


When Bellamy Met Clarke

by onlyherefor1



Category: The 100 (TV), When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, When Harry Met Sally meets The 100
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28369242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyherefor1/pseuds/onlyherefor1
Summary: When Bellamy initially met Clarke, he didn't like her and she didn't like him. They met again 5 years later and still didn't like each other. When they meet each other for the third time 5 years later, they become friends, but can men and women just be friends, or will their friendship develop into something more?Heavily based upon When Harry Met Sally, if you haven't already watched this movie. I recommend it.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, John Murphy/Raven Reyes, Minor Bellamy Blake/Echo - Relationship, Minor Clarke Griffin/Finn Collins, Monty Green/Harper McIntyre, Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Comments: 13
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

An older man and woman sit together on a plush loveseat, looking straight into a camera. 

‘I was at work, a pile of files was slammed onto my desk, by the receptionist who I had just broken up with. I still remember her name, Bree Larson —

‘What does that have to do with anything?’

‘Sorry love, anyway. I was stuck in this dead end job. The only plus of this job was the kitchen that over looked Central Park, and the cupboards were always filled with coffee and bagels —

‘Can you just get to it already’

‘Cammy, just wait… As I was staring out at the park below, the most beautiful woman caught my eye. She was sitting reading my favourite book —

‘It was Watership Down. I still have the copy — 

Laughing the older man interrupts her ‘Do you want to tell this story now Cam’ 

She smirks and rests her head upon his shoulder. He clears his throat to continue.

‘I saw the most beautiful woman, she was biting her lip as she read. Her yellow sundress floated in the light breeze. She was a picture of perfection and I just knew I had to talk to her. My friend James Carmichael was entering the kitchen, I was leaving in such a hurry so I could catch her before she left. I was smiling so much he thought I was sick. I turned to James and I said “James you see that girl? I’m going to marry her” And two weeks later we were married. And it’s 50 years later and we’re still married’

‘We have 3 children, Elijah, Callum and Cara and 7 grandchildren, Lincoln, May, Elle, Danny, Olly, Alyssa and Surayia.

————————————————————————————————————

August 15th 1995

Kissing. That’s the first thing she sees as she pulls up outside Chicago University.   
She slows the car, banking on the squeaking break to declare her presence. Hoping, no praying that the lovebirds will take a hint and stop. When that clearly doesn’t work she sits, patiently must I add, and waits for it to end. The kissing continues, with both occasionally pulling away to murmur confession of love.

‘I love you baby’ 

‘I love yo —‘

Clarke slams her fist on the horn, startling the couple apart. ‘Oops’ She says, laughing to herself, as a smug smile appears on her face. 

Roma rushes over to the car window, flushed and breathily laughs an apology. 

‘Oh. Hi, Clarke. Clarke —— this is Bellamy Blake. Bellamy, this is Clarke Griffin’ 

Her smile drops, only slightly, as she catches a proper glimpse of the man she’s supposed to transport to New York. Now that his face isn’t attached to Roma’s, she’s instantly drawn to his freckles that decorate his face, his stature is tall and muscular, his hair a mass of black unruly curls in contrast to his well kept beard. Any smugness she has is gone, her breath is caught in her throat. He bends down shaking Clarke’s hand, a smug smile appearing on his face, which irritates Clarke proven by her heart which is beating rapidly out of what she can only presume to be frustration. 

‘You want to drive the first shift?’ She says to Bellamy

‘No — you’re there already, you start.’ 

He turns towards Roma, encasing her in a quick hug, a hug that doesn’t quite encapsulate the love he was professing to her only a few minutes prior. He swaggers over to the boot of the car, hurls his duffel bag and a box of books in with the rest of her belongings. He slams the boot shut, with what Clarke thought was an overly brutish display of strength. Opening the car door, Clarke winces preparing for an onslaught to her passenger door. But, surprisingly the dreaded slam never comes. Instead he twists out of the car, facing Roma with a shit eating grin on his face and winks.

‘I’ll call you’ 

He climbs back into the car, softly closing the door. Roma, of course, swoons. Clarke feels this overwhelming need to put as much distance between Roma and Bellamy, for Roma’s own good. He’s an arse, a smug, irritating, arrogant arse.

‘I love you Bellamy Blake’ She hears Roma yell.

He throws himself across Clarke, using the wheel to give him leverage in order to reach Roma out of the car window. ‘I love you too baby’ and the two lovers intwine themselves in another passionate kiss. 

Lord have mercy Clarke thinks as she’s caught in quite possibly the most awkward situation of her life. Roma and Bellamy are caught in their own bubble, for the second time now. She clears her throat and shoves Bellamy back onto the passengers side. Turning to Roma, she smiles and with that removes her foot from the brake and pulls away, moving towards the motorway, moving towards New York.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Bellamy taking out a bunch of grapes. From where? God knows. He starts eating them, and to avoid taking those grapes and throwing them out the god damn window. She starts a conversation with him.

‘I have this all figured out —‘ 

‘I bet you do’ he mutters whilst munching through his grapes.

‘It’s an 18 hour trip, which breaks down to 6 shifts of 3 hours each. Or, alternatively, we could break it down by mileage. There’s a map on the visor, I’ve marked it to show the locations where we change shifts. You can do three hours?

‘Grape?’ Turning to her with a look of innocence, that only frustrates her more.

‘No. I don’t like to eat between meals.’ 

Bellamy scoffs, but turns back to his grapes. They sit in silence, Clarke finds it unnerving and is desperate to find something, anything for them to discuss. 

‘Do you always think so loudly?’

He pulls her out of her thoughts, she sighs, frustrated that he can read her so easily, in the short space of time they’ve known each other. Which is what 10 minutes.

‘Why don’t you tell me the story of your life?’ 

‘The story of my life?’

‘You said, we’ve got 18 hours to kill before we get to New York, enlighten me to the wondrous life of Clarke Griffin.’ 

Usually, Clarke would welcome sarcasm with open arms. But without knowing it he’s hit a sore spot, the story of her life is something she wants to erase. It brings her nothing but betrayal, pain and sadness. She’s not moving to New York, she’s running. But she’s not going to tell him that. Instead opts for. 

‘Nothing’s happened to me yet. That’s why I’m going to New York’ 

‘So something can happen to you’

‘Yes’

‘Like what?’

‘Like I’m going to go to medical school to become a doctor’ 

‘So you can watch other people live their lives, whilst you patch them up and return to your lonely apartment, preaching to your friends that you're making a difference in this dark world? Is that the something you want to happen to you?

The only thing she can think is, who the hell is sitting next to her in this increasingly cramped car. 

‘That’s one way to look at it.’ 

‘Well, look at it that way then. Suppose nothing happens to you. Suppose your life just entails putting people back together, or watching them die. Watching other people’s lives play out in front of you. You never meet anyone and you die alone, without leaving your mark? What then?’

‘Roma mentioned you had a dark side’ 

He laughs, a warm charming laugh that makes her heart glow and her stomach drop.

‘That’s what drew her to me’ 

‘Your dark side?’

‘Yeah, not my devastating looks or incredibly toned body.’ The smirk is back ‘she was drawn to my dark side, because I’m a realist. Don’t you have a dark side? No. You’re probably the most cheerful person on the planet, that has to see the best in everyone.’ 

The arrogance of him, now she’s pondering the different ways to injure an annoying jackass in a moving vehicle. How’s that for a dark side? She could slam on the brakes giving him severe whiplash? Or maybe brake with such force he’d fly through the windscreen? That would be a sight, but the cost of insurance to fix the damage. Not worth it. 

‘Hey. Is anyone home?’ Tapping her on her shoulder, he pulls her out of her thoughts. Again. 

Prick

‘I have just as much of a dark side as the next person’

‘Oh, really? When I get a new book, I read the last page first. That way, if I die before I finish I know how it comes out. That, my friend’s is a dark side’

‘That my friend is sad. You’re ruining your life by waiting for the end, which could be in 50 years for all you know — ’

‘Or tomorrow’ 

Shaking her head she moves the conversation on. ’Okay, so what are you going to do in New York?’ 

‘I’m going to see my little sister. She’s all set up in New York, starting her own business.’ He smiles to himself. ‘I just graduated from law school… but I never.’ He stops. ‘I never really thought I’d be a lawyer. Always thought I’d be a history teacher.’

‘You should be a lawyer, don’t want you scaring the kids with your incessant talk of death. As a lawyer, you could deal with wills. I think you’d be really good at explaining to people they’re going to die.’ 

————————————————————————————————————

‘He loved her, but he had to leave. She would have ruined him.’

‘He would have ruined her, already had ruined her. He never loved her. She loved him!’

Clarke could laugh, she’s sitting next to a man she only met 6 hours ago. Talking about Gone with the Wind, she’s laughing because never had she foreseen Bellamy Blake having avid opinions on Rhett bloody Butler.

‘Of course he loved her. He did everything and anything for her. She was chasing after a married man, whilst already married and they had a child. She had Clark Gable for God’s sakes and wasn’t happy.’

‘But by the end she’s running back to Rhett, and he leaves her. Leaves her alone, in that dark house with a parting line of “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. How can you say he loved her?

‘She was a jumped up Southern Belle, with her head so far up her arse she couldn’t even see what she had in front of her, no wonder he was pissed and left.’ 

Clarke gasps. ‘Scarlett may have been naive but she always loved Rhett, it just took her a while to realise that. But she knew by the end, that’s why she frantically ran back home to find Rhett and tell him that. Personally, I would have settled down with the aristocrat, over the blockade runner.’

‘You would’ve left Rhett to be with Ashley the Aristocrat?’

‘Yes’ 

‘Let me get this right? You’d leave the man you’ve had the greatest sex of your life with, that adores you. You ask any person on this planet that has watched that movie, Rhett loved Scarlett —

‘He left her’ 

‘Let me finish…. The man adored her. You would leave a man like that, to follow a dream of being with your “true love”, with no inclination that he feels the same way?

‘Yes I would, Ashley felt the same way about her and Scarlett had always loved Rhett, he was just too jealous and mean to see it.’ 

Bellamy scoffs ‘Oh yeah, convenient that Ashley’s wife had just died, then he realises he's in love with her. — This makes a lot of sense now.’

Bellamy pulls off the motorway, heading towards a diner.

‘How so?’

He parks the car and get’s out. Clarke watches him and follows annoyed beyond belief. 

‘I understand’

‘What?’

‘Nothing’

Clarke again watches him walk off, into the diner. She can only follow him.

‘What?’

A plump woman, greets them at the door. Her apron stained with what appears to be coffee and pie. Her eyes tired but a beaming smile still appears. Bellamy turns and smirks at her. 

‘Obviously you haven’t had great sex yet’ 

‘Yes I have’

‘No you haven’t’

The waitress, shows them towards their table. Bellamy marches off, leaving her speechless.

‘I have had plenty of good sex’ 

That, she probably should have said a few decibels quieter. The diners closest to her gawk at her, some appalled, some smirking, although not quite matching the smirk adorning Bellamy’s face. The waitress masks her laughter as a cough and runs into the kitchen, probably to tell the chef. The embarrassment makes her walk swiftly over towards the table, the annoying bastard is sitting at. She sits taking her bag and scarf off and reads the menu, praying that the conversation will be dropped.

‘With whom’ 

‘What?

‘Have you had this great sex with’ 

‘I’m not telling you that’ 

‘Fine. Don’t tell me’ 

Silence

‘Lexa Trikru’ 

The waitress approaches the table, her timing has been impeccable tonight. She presents them with the specials and asks for their order. Bellamy the gentleman, starts first.

‘I’ll have number 100’ 

‘What kind of bread do you want that on?’

Reading her name tag, he says. ‘Whatever the hell you want, Rosa’ providing her with a cheeky smile that, of course, makes her swoon. Rosa then turns too Clarke. 

‘I would like the apple pie a la mode. But I’d like the pie heated, and I don’t want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side. And I’d like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it’s real. If it’s out of a can, then nothing.’ 

‘Not even the pie?’

‘No. just the pie. But then not heated.’

Rosa leaves and Clarke turns back to Bellamy, and smiles. His face is a combination of disbelief and shock.

‘What?’

‘Nothing. How come you broke up with Lexa?’

‘How do you know we broke up?’

‘Because why would you be sitting here with me, you’d be in bed with Lexa Trikru having amazing whirlwind sex. But you’re not, you’re here with me. So why’d you break up’ 

‘Firstly, I’m not with you. Secondly, it is none of your business why we broke up’ 

‘Okay. Don’t tell me’

Silence

‘If you must know, she was very jealous and it just wouldn’t have worked out. She’s engaged now, too Costia, my old friend. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.’

‘I don’t know why you’re telling me this. What I do what you to tell me is, how many people have you slept with.’

‘I’m not telling you that’

He smirks ‘Okay. don’t tell me’

Silence

‘Two’

‘You’ve been with two people and you’re telling me based on that data, you know whether or not you’ve had great sex?’

‘Sex isn’t data. It’s intimate. How many women have you slept with?

That shit eating grin comes back and so does Rosa, bringing her heated pie with whipped cream on the side and his sandwich. 

‘I don’t know’ 

‘What do you mean, you don’t know’

‘I don’t know’

‘Is it between zero and three, four and ten.’ She didn’t know it was possible but the shit eating grin grows. ‘Ten to a hundred’ She enquires.

‘Let’s go with that.’ He starts laughing and turns to his sandwich. 

‘Is it closer to ten or a hundred’

‘Ten’ now he’s smirking, which unfortunately only makes him more attractive. Damn you Roma Figueroa. He devours his sandwich, whilst she slowly makes her way through her meal. He tells her about his sister, Octavia. Or as he likes to call her, O. Now this is someone Clarke would love to meet, Octavia sounds funny, smart, feisty and she seems to keep her brother in his place, someone has too. She calls for the bill, and proceeds to check through it, calculating what they each owe. She feels someone staring at her, she looks up and meets Bellamy’s gaze.

‘What?’

‘You’re a very attractive woman’ 

Her heart starts beating faster, like it did earlier when she met him. She brushes it off and thanks him for the compliment.

‘Roma never said you were so attractive’

‘Why would she, shouldn’t you only have eyes for her?’

‘Well yes, but it doesn’t mean that you aren’t a beautiful woman’

Clarke see’s where this is going, she drops some money on the table, puts her scarf and bag on and starts to leave. She walks out of the diner towards the car, she senses Bellamy following her. She reaches the car, waiting for him to unlock the door, but he’s staring at her.’

‘Roma’s my friend’ 

‘So?’

‘So, she’s your girlfriend. You loveee her, remember. I had to sit and watch the two of you, it was nauseating’

‘So?’

‘So you’re coming on to me’ 

‘No I wasn’t’

He unlocks the car. They both climb into the car, Clarke adjusts her seat, ready to drive the next 3 hours.

‘What? Can’t a man say a woman is attractive without it being a come - on? Okay, do you want me to take it back. I take it back’

‘You can’t take it back’ 

‘Why not?’

‘It’s already out there’ 

‘Oh god. Call the cops, it’s already out there. What sort of crap is that?’

‘Bellamy, leave it now’

‘Okay’

She pulls back onto the motorway, they fall into eerie silence, verging on awkward. She can feel him staring at her.

‘Bellamy we can only be friends’

‘Yes of course. Great. Friends.’

‘You realise, of course, that we can never be friends.’ 

Exasperated, she asks ’Why?’

‘What I’m saying —— and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form — is that men and women can’t be friends. The sex part always gets in the way.’

‘That’s not true. I have a number of male friends and there’s no sex involved’

‘No you don’t’

‘Yes I do’ 

‘No you don’t’ 

‘Yes I do’ 

‘You only think you do’ 

‘You’re saying I’m having sex with these men without my knowledge?’

‘No, I’m saying they all want to have sex with you.’

‘They do not.’

‘They do too.’

‘They do not’

‘Do too’

‘How do you know’

‘Because no man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.’

‘So you’re saying a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive.’

‘No. You pretty much want to have sex with them, too.’ 

‘What if they don’t want to have sex with you?’

‘Doesn’t matter. The sex thing is already out there so the friendship is ultimately doomed, and that’s the end of the story.’ 

‘Well. I guess we’re not going to be friends, then.’ 

‘I guess not, princess.’ 

‘Princess? Where did that come from?’ 

‘Came from the moment I saw you and your long, curly, blonde hair.’ He picks a strand and twirls it between his fingers. ’It’s your crown, princess’ He drops the piece he was holding, and starts laughing. She nervously tucks the strand behind her ear, desperately trying to suppress the blush blooming on her cheeks.

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy climbs out of the car, opens the boot and retrieves his belongings. Clarke makes her way to the pavement. Standing there awkwardly, rocking back and forth as she waits for him. He places the duffle’s strap over his shoulder, and picks up the cardboard box full of history and law books. Teaching would be a good career for him, she thinks. 

‘Well, it was nice knowing you.’

‘Yeah. It was interesting.’

‘Thanks for the ride.’

‘You’re welcome.’

It’s awkward now, she doesn’t know where to look. It’s a shame because despite their last conversation, she thought she had a friend. They were able to get along so easily, as if she had known him her whole life. She extends her hand, they shake, she turns back to her car. She stops and looks back to him, he’s walking away. Before he disappears she has one last question for him. 

‘Bellamy. If she loved him, why did it take her so long to realise it? If she knew he was the one why didn’t she just grab Rhett and forget about Ashley.’

He stops and turns around, smiling at her.

‘Because she didn’t know what she had right in front of her — And her head was so far up her own backside’

She laughs and shakes her head ‘Bye Bellamy'

‘Bye Princess.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is the first fanfic I have ever written and probably the last. I hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> BTW: At the start of every chapter, the loveseat will appear with different couples. Can you recognise their story line? Just something too look out for, the stories are from movies, some more obvious than others. 
> 
> Enjoy ;)

The loveseat appears again, this time with another couple.

‘I was writing a piece for women’s magazine Composure, I was there “How to” girl.’

‘I am a advertising executive, who was trying to pitch for a new diamond campaign’ 

‘My boss told me to go to a bar and find a guy, any guy and date him. With a twist, to purposefully do everything wrong in the relationship and see how long he lasts. The column was called “How to Lose a Guy in 10 days”.

‘My boss set a deal, that if I could get any woman to fall in love with me by the time of the diamond event, I would win the pitch. They pointed me to the most beautiful girl, she was with her friends laughing. She had the most gorgeous smile, it’s what drew me to her…. The first few days were great, amazing even’ 

‘Then I flipped the switch’

‘Then she flipped the switch’

‘I bought him a love fern, redecorated his apartment. I bought him a dog, that peed everywhere. I named his dick, I interrupted his boy’s poker night, I called him Benny boo boo incessantly and I even made him miss the last few minutes of the Knicks because I was thirsty. But it all changed when I met his family.’

‘That’s when I fell for you, you know. It was like the facade you were desperately trying to scare me with had fallen, it was just you and me. You fitted in so well with my family, they adored you.’

‘And I beat you at bullshit’

This seems to amuse the man, who starts laughing, he encases her within his arms, playfully tickling her and whispering in her ear which only makes her laugh more. Every movement between them seems so natural. 

‘I invited her to the diamond campaign event, and let’s just say there was a lot of drinking, singing and shouting.’ 

‘I found out it was a bet, and he found out I was writing a column piece’ 

‘But after I read the column, I chased down your taxi to find you and bring you home’

‘He chased down my taxi’ She says beaming up at him. 

The couple seems caught in each other’s gaze, they haven’t stopped smiling since they sat down. 

‘Wednesday is our 17 year wedding anniversary, and we have two beautiful kids, Lucas and Sienna.’

—————————————————————————————————————

October 27th 2000 - Laguardia Airport

Clarke is a 26 year old woman, who has never felt more happy than right now. She’s with her boyfriend, Finn. They’ve only been going out for a month, but he makes her feel special. As they say goodbye, he encases her in a hug before kissing her. In her peripheral vision she can see a man walking past them, he stops and backs up. Now he’s staring, well smirking. That she recognises. Joe pulls away from her and stares at the man before them.

‘Finn — I thought it was you. Bellamy Blake’ 

She feels Finn relax as he extends his hand to Bellamy and shakes his hand. Clarke on the other hand, desperately tries to hide behind her boyfriend, because God it’s Bellamy.

‘Bellamy, how are you?’

‘I’m good, I’m good.’ His voice is gruffer and deeper now. His laugh has stayed the same, warm and charming. Oh god, she wishes the ground would swallow her up.

‘You know, I thought it was you, I was walking past and I had to stop. It’s Finn. You still with the D.A’s office?’

‘No. I switched to the other side. What about you?’

‘I’m working for a secondary school, as a history teacher. I always wanted to do that, so here I am.’ 

She feels Finn give her a nudge, he want’s her to introduce herself. Only when that doesn’t happen, the great boyfriend he is does it for her. 

‘Oh. Bellamy. —— this is Clarke Griffin. Clarke, this is Bellamy Blake’

Bellamy looks at her and nods. His black hair is now cut short, little curls stick out in tufts. His eyes sparkle but don’t seem to recognise her. This pisses her off, she drove with him for 18 hours, 5 years ago and he doesn’t recognise her. I mean she did cut her hair, her hair is straighter and brushes over her shoulders. But how could he not recognise her! 

She grimaces and nods at him. An air of awkwardness emerges. Bellamy’s still staring at her, trying to place her or probably trying to retrieve her from the hundred’s of women he’s bedded. He shakes his head and picks up his briefcase.

‘Well, great to see you, Finn. See you around’ And with that, he leaves. Clarke turns back to Finn, with a relieved look on her face.

‘Thank God he couldn’t place me. I drove from college to New York with him five years ago and it was the longest night of my life.’

Finn, laughs and wraps his hands around her waist looking down at her, whilst she buries her head into his chest. ‘What happened?’

‘He made a pass at me and when I said no — he was dating a friend of mine, — God, what was her name. Rachel? Rochan? No, oh god. Finn don’t date me, I can’t even remember the name of the person I was such good friends with that I wouldn’t even think of dating her boyfriend. I mean he was also an arrogant, smug arsehole. But ——

‘Hey, hey slow down.’ She peers up at him, he’s grinning like the Cheshire Cat ‘So what happened next?’

‘When?’

‘He made a pass at you and you said no — something you’ve never done to me.’ He tickles her sides abruptly and she bursts into giggles. He pecks her lips, making butterflies flutter within her stomach. 

‘I said we could just be friends, this part I remember vividly. He said that men and women couldn’t really be friends. That sex would always get in the way.’

Finn starts kissing her, his hands travel down below her waste, cupping her butt and sending sparks to her core. She pulls away flushed and breathless.

‘Do you think it’s true?’

He immediately responds ‘No’

‘Do you have any women friends? Just friends?’

‘No, but I’ll get one if it’s important to you, Raven from accounting seems nice.’ He says while kissing her neck and making his way up her jaw, to her lips.

‘Roma Figueroa. That was her name. Thank God.’

Finn kisses her again, she couldn’t care less that she’s in an airport with people rushing past her. Right now, she’s in her own bubble.

‘I’ll miss you’ he whispers and he waits a second before saying ‘I love you’ 

‘You do?’ 

‘Yes’

Clarke’s heart feels full at this moment, pure happiness encompasses her. 

‘I love you’ 

————————————————————————————————————— 

Clarke’s sitting on a very crowded flight to Washington, she’s in the middle seat. The worst seat on a plane, she can’t get a good view out the window and she can’t stretch out her legs, like you can on the aisle. She picks up the New York Times, Finn gave her to occupy herself with, a little smile emerges on her face as she thinks of him. 

A stewardess arrives down the aisle with a drink cart and Clarke begins to order.

‘Do you have Bloody Mary mix?’

‘Yes’

The stewardess starts to pour

‘No wait. Here’s what I want. Regular tomato juice, not too much ice, and fill it up about three quarters, and then add a splash of the Bloody Mary mix. Just a splash.’ She senses movement behind her, the man next to her on the aisle turns his head to speak to the man behind, but she continues with her order.

‘And a little piece of lime, but on the side. Thank you’

‘The University of Chicago, right?’ She turns, to see Bellamy, sitting behind her.

‘Yes’

‘Did you look this good at the University of Chicago?’

The man next to her starts laughing, she’s glad someone finds him funny. 

‘No’

‘Did we ever ——

‘Jesus. No.’ She turns to the man next to her on the aisle seat. ‘We drove from Chicago to New York.’

‘Do you two want to sit next to each other’ 

‘Great.’

Just before she was about to answer no, Bellamy pops up and takes his place.

‘You were a friend of — umm’ 

‘Roma’s. I can’t believe you can’t remember her name.’

‘I can remember. Roma. Roma Figure. She did have a good figure, I remember that.’ He starts laughing to himself.

‘Figueroa.’

‘Figueroa, right. That’s what I said. What happened to her?’

‘I have no idea’

‘You have no idea? You were a good friend of hers. We didn’t make it because you were such good friends.’

Clarke remembers the frustration she felt 5 years ago in that damn Toyota. She’s irritated now, but oddly finds him amusing. 

‘You and her were dating, she loved you, you loved her. Don’t you remember.’ She begins to mimic his voice "I love you baby… I’ll call you”.

That gets a laugh out of him. ‘Very nice, you’ve really perfected my voice, must have taken you a while to forget about me then.’ The smirk is back. 

‘Bellamy’ She gives him a withering look.

‘You were going to be a dancer’

‘A doctor.’

‘That’s what I said. So are you? 

‘I am a doctor. I’m in my 5th year of medical school, working at New York-Presbyterian Hospital’

‘Impressive. And you’re with Finn. That’s great — You guys have been together — what? — three weeks?

How’d he guess that? How would he know that!

‘A month. How’d you know?’

‘He took you to the airport, clearly a sign of the beginning of a relationship. I would never take you or anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship, because that binds you to a contract of dropping them off at the airport for the rest of the relationship. Therefore by not taking them, I avoid the god awful question of “How come you never take me to the airport anymore?”’

The guy at the window seat, snorts.

‘You going to marry him?’

Taken aback, Clarke takes her time answering.

‘Not right now, we’ve only known each other a month. Neither one of us is looking to get married right now.’ 

‘Do you know if he ever want’s to get married?’

‘I don’t know, he probably does.’

‘You’ve never asked him?’

She glares at him ‘Like I said, We’ve been together a month. I’m not bringing that up until much later. I don’t want to scare him off’

‘It’s not scaring him off, you’re just making sure you’re both on the same page.’ 

‘Why do you care so much about marriage?’

‘I’m getting married.’

‘You are?’

‘Yep.’

‘Really? You are getting married?’

‘Yep’

‘Who is she?’

‘Echo. She’s a lawyer’ 

She’s aware her eyebrows are probably reaching her hair line, but she’s shocked. Bellamy Blake is getting married, he’s engaged!

‘You’re getting married’

‘Yes, I’ve told you this already. I saw what I wanted and I took it. She’s it for me. I’m happy’

She looks at him, properly now. He does look happy, his hair may be tamed and the curls may be hidden, but he is happy. His eyes continue to sparkle. He’s constantly smiling. He is happy. She’s happy for him. She thinks she is anyway.

‘That’s great, Bellamy. I’m really happy for you.’

‘Eh, I’ve reached a point where you get tired of the whole thing.’

‘What whole thing’ 

‘Single - life, dating. You meet someone, you go to lunch, you decide if you like them enough to go to dinner. You go dancing, you go back to her place, you have sex, and the minute you finish, you know what goes through you head? How long do I have to lie here and hold her before I can go home? Is 30 seconds enough?’

The guy by the window seat, snorts again. 

‘Really that’s what you’re thinking?’

‘All men think that. How long do you like to be held afterwards? All night, right? That’s the problem. Somewhere between 30 seconds and all night is your problem.’

‘I don’t have a problem’

‘Yes you do, princess’ 

Prick.

—————————————————————————————————————

They’ve been walking in silence for a couple of minutes now. They got off the plane and walked through passport control, they collected their luggage and are now headed to the exit of the airport. 

‘Would you like to have dinner?’ 

She looks at him suspiciously, wondering if he has an ulterior motive, but how could he, he’s engaged.

‘Just as friends’

‘You said men and women couldn’t be friend’s’

‘No. No I never said that. Oh I remember now, I did say that. They can’t… unless both of them are involved with other people. Then they can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships the pressure of possible involvement is lifted. Although that doesn’t work either. Because what happens is the person you’re involved with doesn’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re friends with, like it must mean something’s missing from your relationship and you have to go outside to get it, and when you say, no no, it’s not true, there’s nothing missing from our relationship, the person you’re involved with accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are, let’s face it, who the hell are we kidding, which brings us back to the original rule before the amendment, which is why men and women can’t be friends — 

She interrupts him before he can burst a blood vessel and do himself serious harm. She should know, she’s a doctor after all, it’s her job to care and protect.

‘Bellamy’

‘Yes, princess’

‘Goodbye’

‘Okay.’


	3. Chapter 3

The loveseat appears again, with another couple on it, looking towards the camera. The man is relaxed widespread with his arm along the back of the sofa. The woman is sitting forward avidly telling their story.

‘I was his office manager, basically his assistant. I was the only one that knew his schemes. He left his fiancée at the alter, she was cheating on him and was only marrying him for his money. However, he kept his wedding ring and used it to get women, creating sob stories of how cruel his “wife” was to get them into bed. Truly, he was a mess’ 

‘Hey’ They look at each other. ‘okay yeah I was’ 

‘Anyway, so one day karma gets the best of him. He meets this girl, Palmer, who he actually has a “connection” with, but this time he doesn’t use the ring to get her. She finds it in his shirt pocket, the next morning, leading him to lie. Great way to start a relationship!’ 

‘In my defence — 

‘Honey, save it. So, he turns to me, his best friend and confidant. He brings me and my kids into an elaborate plan to prove to Palmer, that his “wife” means nothing to him and that he’s a family man’ 

‘This is the part where I get extorted by your kid, and had to pay for a ridiculously pricy holiday in Hawaii — 

‘You shouldn’t have lied then —

‘I’m happy that it happened, because I realised that all this time, the woman I loved had been right in front of me for the past 5 years. It made me realise that Palmer was not right for me. You were, Mrs Maccabee’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

May 2nd 2005

Clarke’s late, really late, she promised her friends she would meet them at the restaurant at 12. She turns the corner and arrives at the restaurant by the riverside. She spots Raven and Harper and swiftly sits down at the table.

‘Sorry I’m late’ She turns to the waiter and orders ‘Here’s what I want. I want a Campari and soda, but here’s how I want it. I want the Campari in a glass with ice and the soda on the side, but in a bottle. I don’t want the soda in a glass, I want to mix it myself.’ 

She focuses back to her friends, she doesn’t know where she’d be without them. Harper has always been the mature one, the purest one. She got married 2 years ago to her high school sweetheart, Monty Green. They broke up, moving to different universities but five years ago they found themselves in the same restaurant on separate dates, a table apart. They were apparently unable to take their eyes off each other. They’re perfect together they bring out the best within each other, and the worst don’t get me wrong. But they work through any kink or bump in the road. They have a baby boy, Jordan and recently Clarke suspects baby number 2 is on the way.

Then there’s Raven, her best friend. The way they met, you wouldn’t expect them to be friends. She had heard of Raven before, but only briefly from Finn. “Oh yeah, Raven from accounting” but what he always left out was their relationship, he was dating them both. Raven found out first, stormed over to Clarke’s flat screaming bloody murder, thinking Clarke was the mistress. When she found out that Finn and Clarke had already been dating for 2 years, Clarke fell apart on her doorstep, whilst Raven rubbed her back and let her cry on her shoulder. She invited Raven in, the two women waited for Finn to come home. When he entered the living room and saw them together, he went white. She remembered wanting to scream at him, bring hellfire down on him. But when she looked at him, she couldn’t speak let alone scream. Raven, however, had no issue with screaming, she dumped him and left, not without leaving her number and placing it on her fridge. She remembers crying and his promises to never do that to her again, how much he loved her and how he would never, ever hurt her again. The worst thing is she believed him. She was too afraid to let him go, she was naive and weak, so she stayed. She began talking to Raven, who lectured her about the mistake she was making, but after a while stopped trying and left her to try and fix a relationship that was beyond repair.

Raven proceeded to date, and somehow ended up falling for a married guy, Wick. He promised he would leave his wife and be with her, still is promising. She always believes him, some part of Clarke hates the fact that she’s putting herself through this again. Like she can only be a mistress and there isn’t someone out there that would worship the floor she walks on. But, mainly Clarke hates herself for being in a 5 year relationship that has left her empty. She tunes back into what Raven is saying.

‘So, I looked through his pockets’ 

‘Raven! Why did you look through his pockets’ Harper is just too pure for this planet, thank god she found a man who treasures her. 

‘Do you know what I found? A receipt for a new living room sofa and a coffee table. He spent £2,000 on their living room.’

‘What’s the point?’

‘The point is, he’s never going to leave her. Just like Clarkey will never leave Finn.’

‘I broke up with Finn’ 

God, she’s been holding that one in for about a month now. The strange thing is, the moment their relationship was over, she didn’t actually feel sad. She felt free. She kicks herself because she could have felt this way 3 years ago. Both of them gawk at her, until Raven squeals and pumps her fist into the air. 

‘Thank God for that, I was worried about getting an invitation to your wedding and having to be a bridesmaid. The mistress as the maid of honour, the thought makes me shudder.’

‘Raven!’ Harper scolds, whilst suppressing her own gleeful smile. They hated Finn.   
‘But Clarke, seriously are you okay?’

‘I’m fine, I’ve had a month to get used to it and I’m happy, happier even’ 

Raven pulls out her phone and opens her note folder ‘Well then my friend, you are ready’ 

‘Ready for what?’

‘To get back out there! Janette Fields? Oh, she’s beautiful why don’t you date her?’

‘She’s happily married, with four kids, that’s why’ Clarke and Harper start laughing as Raven deletes her from her list. 

‘Michael Spears?’ 

‘No! No! No!’ Harper squeals ‘You set me up with him 6 years ago, it was awful’ 

‘Honestly, Raven I’m fine, this is too soon. I don’t need to date anyone at the moment. I’m happy to just be single’ 

‘Alright, Alright. She says putting her hands up in surrender, switching her phone off. ‘But all I’m saying is the right man may be out there right now and if you don’t grab him, someone else will and you’ll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that someone else is married to your husband.’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

To say this has been the worst week of Bellamy’s life is not an exaggeration. Currently he’s at a Met’s game with his friend Murphy. In a week his world has come crashing down around him.

‘When did this happen’ 

“Friday, Echo comes home and says, “I don’t know if I want to be married to you anymore”. In the most nonchalant way possible, as if we were talking about getting a takeaway and not the end of our marriage. So I say, “Why don’t we think about this, let’s not rush into anything” She says she’s thought about it and she wants trial separation. She says she just wants to try it and proceeds to say, “We can still date”. I got married to stop dating, I don’t want to date my wife, isn’t she supposed to love me Murph? So I say this to her “Don’t you love me anymore?” you know what she says? She says, “I don’t know if I ever loved you.”

‘Christ that’s harsh’

‘Thanks Murph’

‘Then she says, she’s found accommodation, a college of her’s is moving to England and is letting her sublet his apartment. So I say, “I can’t believe this” then the doorbell rings. I answer the door and what do I see before me? Movers! I ask her “When did you call these movers” she won’t answer me. I ask these 3 bulked up men, most likely all on anabolic steroids they don’t answer me either. I ask her again. She says, “A week ago”. I said, “You’ve known this for a whole week and you didn’t tell me?” And she says, “I didn’t want to ruin your birthday.”

Murphy shakes his head, and pats his shoulder. 

‘I haven’t told you the bad part.’

‘What could be worse than that?’

‘It’s all a lie, she’s in love with another guy, a tax attorney. She’s moved in with him.’ 

‘How did you find out?’

‘I followed her and I stood outside the building. When I confronted her she said “I can’t be with someone that lacks ambition, Bellamy. You dropped out of law school to become a teacher. I couldn’t face lying to my parents about your career choices anymore.”

‘That sucks, man’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

May 8th 2005

She’s walking with Raven, and unsurprisingly Raven is despondent due to Wick. They enter the local library. Clarke’s desperate to find this new book on Monet’s influence, “Monet. The Triumph”, she thinks it’s called that anyway. Honestly she just want’s a distraction from work, they lost a little girl yesterday. 8 hours of surgery and they were almost there, then blood everywhere, she was bleeding out on the table. The look on her parent’s faces, when she told them. 

Raven dramatically sighs next to her as she looks through the bookcases. 

‘I just happened to see his American Express bill’

‘What do you mean, just happened to see it’ 

‘It was in his briefcase and he just happened to be in the bathroom. It was lying right there. Anyway, he spent £120 on a new dress for his wife. I don’t think he’s ever going to leave her.’ 

‘No one thinks he’s ever going to leave her’ 

‘You’re right, you’re right. I know you’re right.’

Clarke breaks away from Raven, trying to find the author via alphabetic order. Raven sidles up to her and whispers

‘Someone is staring at you in Ancient History’

Clarke discreetly glances over to the direction Raven pointed to, and spots Bellamy. Bellamy Blake the man she hasn’t seen in 6 years.

‘I know him. That’s Bellamy Blake. A history teacher, last time I saw him was 6 years ago. He was engaged about to get married.’

‘He’s good-looking, you should say hi’

Good looking is an understatement she thinks, his unruly curls are back and his beard is on the scruffy side. His eyes still sparkle as he looks over the bookcase. And his freckles…

‘He’s married! Raven, and he never remembers me’

‘Clarke Griffin’ Well she stands corrected. She looks up to see him standing over her, that grin that used to annoy her, now makes her smile. Maybe she’s become more tolerant as she got older. Scratch that, she definitely became more tolerant as she got older, example - Finn Collins. 

‘Hi, Bellamy’ 

‘I thought it was you, it was the hair’ His hand rises to play with one of her golden locks, but stops mid air and moves instead to his own hair. Although Clarke doesn’t spot this, Raven does. 

‘It is. This is Raven — 

Her best friend scampers down the stairs, leaving her alone with Bellamy. She waves on the way out and mimes something, most likely an inappropriate gesture. 

‘was Raven’ Bellamy chuckles, although it doesn’t sound as warm and happy as it did 6 years ago.

‘How are you doing, Clarke’

‘Fine’

‘Good, How’s Finn’

‘I’m sure he’s fine’ 

‘You’re not with Finn anymore?’

‘We broke up a month ago.’

‘I’m sorry, I’m really sorry Clarke’ 

‘It’s fine, how’s married life?’

‘Not too great, I’m getting a divorce’

‘Oh. I’m sorry. When did this happen?’

‘She handed me the papers yesterday, she told me she was done a week ago.’ 

‘I’m sorry Bellamy’ 

‘Ah it’s fine. I have my sister and my friends. All of which are becoming increasingly annoyed by my sudden appearances at their flats or calls at midnight. I feel like I’m walking around with my other half gone. I used to have a partner, someone to do something, anything with. Then one day she just ups and leaves. ’

—————————————————————————————————————

They stopped for coffee in a chic cafe, or maybe they had the intention to stop for coffee but the minute the sat down they ordered alcohol. 

‘When I was 16, my father wanted a divorce. He was tired of living with a woman he didn’t love anymore, her job had changed her. My mother, refused to sign the divorce papers she couldn’t stand what other people would think. That the infamous know it all doctor Abigail Griffin had a failing marriage. They stayed with each other for 4 more years and I suppose he did stick to his vows in the sense that my father died in a marriage he wanted nothing to do with. “Til death us do part”. He died in a car accident, my best friend was in the car, he lived and my dad died. I resented Wells for years, I never forgave him and when I finally realised I had no right to hate him, because he too had lost a father figure that day, it was too late. He moved away, leaving no sign of where he went.’

‘After my father’s death, my mother played the part of the miserable widow, she wasn’t that miserable though, sleeping with her boss, Marcus Kane, kept her occupied. Apparently she had been having an affair, throughout the entire marriage to my father. She pushed me to follow in her footsteps and pursue a career in medicine, whereas my dad always told me to what would make me happy, Art. So I ran, to New York, and you were present in my getaway plan. I cut off ties with my mother and I entered New York alone, naive and clueless, hoping to find someone to finally ground me, I thought Finn was that someone.’

‘When Finn and I started seeing each other, we wanted exactly the same things, we wanted to live together, but we weren’t going to get married because marriage ruins everything. It ruined my parents and in the process it hurt me. I didn’t want a repeat of that, so marriage was off the table. Then one day I come home from a long day at the hospital all I wanted was to curl up in bed and pretend like the day hadn’t happened and then someone’s banging at the door, screaming hellfire. I open the door and it’s Raven and my whole world comes crashing down around me. Finn cheated and I stayed with him. I stayed with him for three more years desperately trying to fix a relationship that was broken beyond repair. I was out with one of my married girlfriends with her little boy, Jordan and Harper tells me that Monty and her are 2 months pregnant and instead of congratulating her, I cried, I sobbed. I realised that I wanted babies, marriage and the white picket fence and a month ago I still wanted that with Finn. I went home and told him this is what I want, and he said I don’t, so I said I guess it’s over and he left, on the day of our five year anniversary. The truth is I feel really fine, we should have had that conversation 3 years ago. I am over him.’

She’s staring out the window, watching a couple walk hand in hand, desperate to suppress the rise of nostalgia, she shudders wiping away the memory. She shrugs her shoulders and looks back to Bellamy.

‘You seem happier.’

‘Yeah’ she sighs ‘I suppose I am.’

—————————————————————————————————————

They’re walking along the pavement, with no real destination in mind. The sun is setting and there’s a beautiful golden glow in the sky.

‘When we first met, I really didn't like you that much —

‘I didn't like you.’

‘You did, too. You were just so uptight’

‘No. I just didn’t want to sleep with you.’

Bellamy chuckles ‘You keep telling yourself that princess’

Clarke smiles all of a sudden she feels like she’s that naive twenty one year old, who initially had a little crush on her friends boyfriend, only until he opened his mouth. She watches him now, his hands are in his jean pockets he sways along the path. He occasionally sweeps his hand through his hair, he’s done that twice today. Perhaps it’s his tell when he’s nervous, everyone has a tell. Her heart rate starts beating faster and she feels a flush emerging on her cheeks, but she’ll blame it on the cold. She feels a flutter of butterflies in her stomach due to that stupid nickname, Princess. What’s funny is he didn’t know how right he was when he called her that the first time, at the time he used it to annoy her, now not so much, they’ve grown up in the past 10 years. 

‘Bellamy, would you like to have dinner with me sometime?’ She’s a bundle of nerves, waiting for his response, she stops walking to look at him directly.

‘Are we becoming friends now?’ 

Oh, she thinks. She deflates a little, hoping he doesn’t notice she shifts from side to side and then smiles, that fake happy smile. 

‘I guess we are’

‘A female friend. This is amazing. You may be the first attractive woman I have not wanted to sleep with in my entire life.’

Ouch

‘That’s great, Bellamy’ She feels rejected but then decides what she needs right now is a friend. They keep walking together, talking about everything and nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone!!!! Hope you enjoy the chapter, quite possibly my favourite chapter so far. 
> 
> The song that features is Days Like This by Van Morrison.

The loveseat reappears again, this time with another couple.

‘I’m a writer so I’ll set the scene. I write columns on weddings, every bridezilla in New York wants me to cover their wedding and for it to end up in the New York Journal. I came across a lovely couple, Tess and George, wonderful couple you might even say. Although, this one, would disagree —

‘At the time, they weren’t right for each other. She was lying to him from the start. It was never going to work. She became an animal loving, meat hating hippy over night, that’s not my sister.’

‘In order to get a better insight into the couples I’m to write about, I like to interview their friends and family, so I interviewed Jane. You know that classic saying, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride”. Well this one embodied that —

‘Hey!’

He gives her a look, that look that is only meant for her. That look that ignores anyone else in the room, because to him no one else simply matters. She laughs and wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head upon his shoulder. 

‘I have a lot of friends and went to a lot of weddings, so therefore had a lot of dresses’ 

’27 to be exact’ 

’28 now and that dress is my favourite’ She says beaming into the camera

—————————————————————————————————————

July 24th 2005

Clarke’s phone is ringing, she’s lying on the sofa eating cheesecake whilst watching ‘Jane the Virgin’. In summary she’s feeling low.

She picks up the phone, since it’s Bellamy.

‘Do you still sleep on the same side of the bed?’ He asks

‘I did for a while, but now I’m pretty much using the whole bed.’

‘God, that’s great. I feel weird when just my leg wanders over. I miss her’ 

‘I don’t miss him. I really don’t 

‘Not even a little?’

‘You know what I miss? I miss the idea of him.’

‘Maybe I only miss the idea of Echo’ Silence ‘No, I miss the whole Echo’ He sighs ‘What are you watching?’

‘Jane the Virgin’

‘Oh, that shows absolute garbage. What Channel?

‘100’

‘Thanks’

‘No worries’ 

She lies down on the sofa, covering herself with her blanket. She places the phone by her head and puts it on speaker. They sit in comfortable silence.

‘Petra Solano. My kind of woman.’ 

Clarke chuckles at Bellamy’s declaration

‘She knows exactly what she wants, a powerful, business woman, plus she’s hot.’

‘Not a fan of Jane then?’ 

‘Meh’

‘What do you mean, meh?’ 

‘She’s too high maintenance’

‘High maintenance?’

‘Yep. There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance’

‘Which one am I?’

‘The worst one. You’re high maintenance, but you think you’re low maintenance.’

‘I don’t see that.’

‘You don’t see that?’ He starts mimicking her voice ‘I’ll start with the calamari but I don’t want the tartare garlic and lemon sauce, I want mayonnaise but “On the side’, and then I’ll have the duck confit with the orange and veal jus, but I want the sauce “on the side”. “On the side” is a very big thing for you.

‘I just want it how I want it.’

‘High maintenance’ he sings down the phone

—————————————————————————————————————

October 13th 2005

It’s late and Clarke is currently in her underwear with an oversized black hoodie on. Listening to Van Morrison while cleaning, because that’s the only thing to do at 11:54 on a Wednesday evening. She’s turned the volume down relatively low as to not disturb Mr and Mrs Woodsen, who are the loveliest couple she has ever met, bar Harper and Monty. 

They got married 50 years ago and have 3 children and 7 grandchildren. She’s met one of their grandchildren, Lincoln. He’s enormous in size, very good-looking but more importantly is a lovely and caring man. She tried to set Raven up with him, but she had just met Wick and at the time didn’t know he was married, when she found out 3 years later she said ,“I’m in too deep to leave him”. If she had a single (and emotionally stable) friend she would definitely introduce him to them. 

Her hips sway to the music, as she dances round her kitchen whilst she puts her cleaning products away. Her hair is on top in a messy bun and she’s holding a glass of wine in her hand as she moves to the lyrics. 

‘When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this   
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this   
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch  
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this’ 

She hears a knock at her front door and at this time, it could only be Bellamy.   
‘Come in’ she yells. 

‘When you don’t need to worry there’ll be days like this  
When no one’s in a hurry there’ll be days like this’

He opens the door and swiftly closes it, the chilly air comes in with him as he removes his coat, scarf and shoes. She waits for him to start cursing as he always kicks his foot on the side table she has by the door. 

‘When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss  
Oh my mama told me there’ll be days like this’

‘Christ, Why do you need this table here?’

‘It’s where I put any letters, car keys and house keys, or notes of stuff I need if I’m leaving in a hurry.’

‘I know what its function is, why does it have to be right by the door. Every time I come round I walk into it.’ He decides to reenact his entrance. ‘I close your door, put the latch on, which you always forget to do, by the way. I take my coat and shoes off and put them on their designated racks. Then I’m turning to walk into the kitchen, but what’s in my way? This goddamn table.’

Still swaying to the music she places her glass down on the counter and reaches for his hand. He’s such a mother hen sometimes. 

'When you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this   
When you don’t need a chancer there’ll be days like this  
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit it  
Then I must remember there’ll be days like this’

‘Stop complaining’

‘I’m not complaining, I’m simply advising that you move the table to a place that won’t cause bodily harm.’ He says while taking her hand. 

‘You want to dance, princess’ 

She smiles ‘I’m not a very good dancer. I might hurt you more than the table’

He laughs ‘I don’t doubt that’

He places one hand on her lower back and the other holds her hand. Her free hand takes its place on his shoulder, resting her cheek against his chest. They sway together, every movement is so delicate, she has to closer her eyes. She feels his thumb tracing small circles over her back.

‘When everyone is up front and they’re not playing tricks  
When you don’t have no freeloaders out to get their kicks  
When it’s nobody’s business the way that you want to live  
I just have to remember there’ll be days like this’ 

Without warning, he spins her out, to then pull her back in, grabbing her by the waist and tickles her. 

‘When no one steps on my dreams there'll be days like this  
When people understand what I mean there'll be days like this  
When you ring out the changes of how everything is  
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this’

She laughs so much she almost can’t breathe. He stops and releases her, they both stare at each other as the song comes to a close.

‘There’ll be days like this’

It feels too intimate. Then he picks her up, throwing her over his shoulder and chucks her onto the sofa. He sits next to her, holding two empty glasses and a bottle of wine and just like that the moment is forgotten. 

‘So Gone with the Wind is starting in….’ He looks at his watch ‘2 minutes! It starts at midnight, I ran over here so we could watch it.’ 

She races into her bedroom and collects her duvet, an assortment of pillows and blankets and throws them at him on the sofa. She then goes to the fridge and pulls out a tub of ice cream collecting two spoons, because what goes better together than wine and ice cream. She collapses onto the sofa, fidgeting profusely, trying to get comfortable under the pillow nest he’s made. She sighs, blowing strands of her hair out her face and with that she’s ready

‘You good?’

‘Yep’ 

The movie starts and despite having to get up in 7 hours anyway, she’s ready to watch a 4 hour movie. If medical school taught her anything, it’s how to function on low sleep and high levels of caffeine. 

An hour and a half in to the movie, he turns to her. 

‘So you’re telling me you would be happy to live with Ashley Wilkes over Rhett Butler?’ 

‘When did I say that?’

‘When we drove to New York’

‘I never said that. I would never have said that.’ 

‘You did too.’

‘No, I didn’t’

‘You said that Rhett never loved Scarlett, proven by the fact he leaves her’ 

‘He left her, because her head was so far up her own backside’ She’s grinning now, because seeing Bellamy get this exercised is hysterical. 

‘Oh haha, very funny’ 

She giggles and curls up into his side as the movie continues. After a while, she’s pretty certain she falls asleep, exhausted from the day. In the morning, her alarm goes off and she wakes up to find herself in bed. After her shower, she gets dressed into her scrubs and wanders into the living area. The kitchen is spotless, the glasses and ice cream tub has been put in the dishwasher. See, she thinks, mother hen. She puts her trainers on and grabs her coat and scarf. On her way out she notices a post it note on her side table by the door, which simply says.

‘Princess, you snore’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

November 10th 2005

Bellamy and Clarke are walking along the road towards their reservation at a restaurant Clarke’s been raving about for weeks. Occasionally their shoulders bump against one another. When suddenly a women launches herself into Bellamy’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and her arms lock around his neck. Who the hell is this Clarke thinks? Bellamy seems stunned but them tightens his grip around the woman and starts laughing, spinning her around.

Bellamy puts the woman back down, and Clarke is able to see the woman’s face. She’s beautiful, a petite brunette with subtle features, framing her face. She looks very similar to Bellamy. The woman smiles at her and Clarke waves awkwardly. 

‘Oh sorry Clarke this is my sister, Octavia. O this is Clarke Griffin.’

His sister, she thinks. Clarke smiles more warmly now, she feels relieved although she’s not quite sure why.

‘So you're the famous Clarke, my brother won’t shut up about you. Honestly he goes on and on about his friend Clarke —

Bellamy kicks the back of Octavia’s foot and encases her in a hug, so her mouth is pressed firmly into his chest. He's blushing, which she’s never seen before. ‘My sister, doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about’. Releasing her he gives her a glare, almost like a warning. Octavia ignores this and turns back to Clarke. 

‘So where are you two off to?’

‘We’re going to this restaurant, I’ve wanted to go to for weeks, Gramercy Tavern, would you like to join us?’

‘I’m sure O, is very busy’

‘No, I’m not. Come on Clarke’

Giving her brother a withering glare, she grabs Clarke by the hand and drags her towards the restaurant, leaving Bellamy standing there perplexed. ‘I’ve got stories to tell you about my big brother’ Both women start laughing and Bellamy lengthens his stride to catch up with them, falling in line beside Clarke. He rests his hand on her lower back guiding her into the restaurant. Clarke walks in and takes off her coat, smiling at the waiter that greets her. Just as he’s about to follow. O stops him, placing her hand on his arm. He turns to look at her, she’s got that shit eating grin on her face’

‘Be careful, Big Brother’ 

Before he can answer her, she waltzes into the restaurant dragging Clarke to the table they’ve been shown too. Shaking his head he follows. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Throughout the meal, Clarke and Octavia, get on like a house on fire. Bellamy sits there in silence, with a small smile on his face as he watches their interaction. They talk about their careers, with Clarke taking particular interest in Octavia’s fitness business that she’s successfully been running for almost 6 years. Then, the conversation, steered by Clarke, shifts onto a topic he’d rather hear nothing about, his sister’s love life. 

‘So Octavia, are you single?’ Clarke asks while sipping her drink, she obviously knows the answer to that question, having asked Bellamy this before. 

O sighs, ‘Yes. I’ve been single for quite a while now.’ She grimaces ‘I just don’t have the best track record in relationships, I don’t trust people easily.’ She looks up to her brother and he gives her a reassuring smile. 

Bellamy clears his throat, whilst glaring at Clarke. She chooses to ignore him, he’s clearly giving her the look, she usually understands what the look means. They can read each other so well, so he knows Clarke has some ulterior motive here.

‘I’m sure one day you’ll meet someone.’ She abruptly stands up and excuses herself from the table, not without taking her purse and heads towards the ladies room. Once she’s out of earshot, Octavia whips her head glaring at him.

‘She’s amazing’ 

‘Yep. She is great’

‘No. She’s amazing, you couldn’t wish for a better woman if you tried’ 

‘O, we are just friends’

‘Bullshit. You two aren’t just friends’

‘O, I just got out of a marriage’

‘So?’

‘So, I’m not looking for anything, right now. Clarke is a really good friend of mine, quite possibly my best friend. That’s it’ He says sighing.

He reclines further into his chair, hoping that he can physically remove himself from this conversation. 

‘Okay, you might have just gotten out of a marriage. I will say, I never liked Echo. I always got the impression that she thought she was better than everyone else. I’m sorry she hurt you, and that you’re still hurting. But, you my brother, are an idiot. Wake up and grab that girl, before someone else sees how amazing she is, before someone else becomes her person. Her partner won’t be comfortable with the amount of time you guys spend with each other, and you’ll start to see each other less and less, until she’s given an ultimatum. You or him. We all know they pick the partner over the friend, every damn time. Don’t let it get to that, please Bell.’

‘It wouldn’t be like that.’ 

‘Fine, fine, fine be in denial. I’ll just say I told you so’ 

‘O — 

He reaches out to his sister, but Clarke comes back, firmly ending their conversation. She’s putting her coat and scarf on and looks down at the Blake siblings with a smile, who share the same perplexed expression. 

‘I paid for the meal and before you protest, it’s my treat.’ 

With that she marches out of the restaurant, thanking the waiters on her way out. Leaving Bellamy and Octavia no choice but to grab their coats and rush on after her. Outside, Bellamy is greeted by a hulking stature of a man, who’s standing next to Clarke. 

Clarke turns towards Octavia. 

‘O, I want you to meet Lincoln. He’s my neighbours grandson. I think the two of you would really get along’ 

She pulls Octavia in for a hug and whispers in her ear ‘Give him a chance’ She releases her and winks. Octavia smiles and squeezes her arm, before turning to Lincoln and shaking his hand. Clarke grabs Bellamy and drags him down the street, he loses sight of his baby sister when they turn the corner. They walk in silence until they reach her apartment, he closes the door and puts the latch on.

‘What the hell was that? Did you just set my sister up?’ 

‘He was in the neighbourhood, they’d be great together’ She smirks.

‘And you decided that in the 2 hours that you met her!’

‘Obviously’

‘You’re impossible’ 

‘You love me’ 

He walks over to her sofa crashes onto it. Clarke falls next to him. 

‘Do you want to go to a movie tonight?’ He asks

‘I’d love to Bell, but I can’t’

‘Why do you have a date?’ He starts laughing but when she doesn’t respond, his laughter stops and he looks at her.

‘I was going to tell you but — I don’t know. I felt strange about it.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know, we’ve been spending so much time together. I didn’t want to upset you.’ 

He coughs and sits forward. ‘Clarke, it’s fine, honestly. I think it’s great you have a date.’ 

‘Thanks Bell’ 

‘Is that what you’re wearing?’

‘I think so, why’

‘You should wear skirts more. You look good in skirts.’

‘I do?’

‘Yeah, you do’

Silence

‘You know Bell, you should get out there again, I think you’re ready’ 

‘Maybe I am’ He says looking despondently out of the window.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! 
> 
> It's the iconic scene now 
> 
> Enjoy ;)

Chapter 5 

The love seat appears, with another older couple on it, smiling looking into the camera.

He didn't pay any attention to me that day. He was hanging around a fancy-schmancy girl named Rebecca Draper, and I didn't like him —

And I didn’t like her

Six months later, though, we met again. At a Spanish Civil War rally

And the rest is history.

—————————————————————————————————————

November 21st 2005

Bellamy moved into his new apartment, 3 months ago. In all that time he still hasn’t decorated. Clarke took it upon herself to arrive at his house, without any warning, and force him to make a start. She’s been here for 2 hours now, moved all his plates, knives, forks and cooking crap to its assorted place. Well, she tried to move all his stuff to the right place, but he took over claiming she was doing it all wrong. 

So she grabbed a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, whilst she watched the chaos ensue and cardboard boxes fly around the apartment. Bellamy is currently unrolling his new rug along the floor, which they found together at a street market, she spotted it. 

‘It was the most uncomfortable night of my life’ 

‘The first date back is always tough’

‘You went on one date. How do you know it won’t get worse?’

‘How much worse can it get than him bursting into tears at the end of the date. Then pulling me into a hug, and crying into my breasts saying please don’t leave, please don’t leave.’ 

‘You’re talking dream date compared to my horror’

He lays the rug out horizontally, but it looks wrong too Clarke. 

‘It’s gotta go this way’ She says and they pick up the rug and swivel it, now it looks better. Honestly what would he do without her. 

‘It started out fine, she was a nice person, and I took her to Gramercy Tavern.’

‘You took her to Gramercy Tavern?’ She feels like someone has just stabbed her heart. She instantly suppresses that feeling, with no idea where it came from.

‘Yeah, it was a really nice place. Thought it would be a good place to take a date. Anyway I started making jokes to lighten the mood. Nothing, not a smile, not anything. I started making small talk, asking where she grew up and she says North Carolina and it reminds me of Echo. I almost had a massive anxiety attack while this girls sitting in front of me blissfully unaware of the state I’m in.’

‘Echo’s from North Carolina?’

‘No. She’s from Georgia. But they’re very close. I was so upset, I had to leave the restaurant.’ 

‘Bell, I think it takes a long time to actually enjoy getting back out there. One day you’ll meet someone that just make’s it so easy, you’ll forget about Echo.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Maybe even longer before we’ll be able to go to bed with someone new.’

‘Well, I did sleep with her.’

‘You slept with her?’ She turns her head to face him but he's not looking at her, he's distracted.

‘Yep’ 

Oh. He slept with her. 

‘I think I need more colour in this room.’ She thinks she hears him say. He’s walked off towards one of the few boxes left, rifling through them. 

He slept with her, she thinks.

—————————————————————————————————————

November 26th 2005

Bellamy’s out with Murphy who he hasn’t seen him in ages. He’s missed him, but that feeling will go away the minute he opens his mouth. In his defence, he’s just been very busy.

‘I don’t understand this relationship you have with Clarke.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You enjoy being with her?

‘Yes.’

‘You find her attractive?’

‘Yes’

‘And you’re not sleeping with her?’

‘No’

‘Why not!’

‘Why can’t you give me credit for this? This is a massive step for me, Murph, having a relationship with a woman that doesn’t involve sex. I can say anything to her and she won’t get upset.’

‘So, you can’t speak to me about these things then?’

‘It’s a different perspective. I get a woman’s point of view on things, I can talk to her about the women I see.’ 

‘You talk to her about other woman?’

‘Yes'

‘And she’s okay with this?’

‘Yes, of course she is, and she talks to me about the men she dates.’ 

‘And you’re okay with that?’

‘Yes, God. Men and women can be friends. Clarke and I are the example. You my friend are just jealous.’ 

‘Hmmm I feeling something, not sure if it’s jealousy… Blake, you free later there’s a Met’s game on.’

‘No. Sorry I’m going to the movies with Clarke. Maybe another time?’

‘Of course you are' Murphy mutters under his breath 

The two men depart. The one thing ringing through Murphy’s head, is that his old friend is quite possibly the stupidest man he’s ever met, he’s whipped and he doesn't even realise it. 

—————————————————————————————————————

December 5th 2005

Bellamy waits at the door of Clarke’s apartment as she get’s ready. They were supposed to leave 2 minutes ago, they’re going to be late for their reservation. Clarke finally emerges, she rushes to the door grabbing her coat and scarf and then runs back to her bedroom having forgotten, he suspects, her lipstick. He’s been staring at her this whole time, she’s beautiful. I mean she always is beautiful, but today it’s different. She’s wearing a long red skirt, he likes it when she wears skirts. A white wolly jumper on top and she’s got her hair tied up, he has a great view of her neck and it stirs some sort of desire in him.

‘Got it’ She says holding her lipstick, he knew it. 

They make their way down the street towards Catz Delicatessen, they enter to a buzz of noise. They sit at the table and he hears a woman next to them, turn to her husband.

‘Aren’t they just a lovely couple’ 

Oh god, he thinks. He prays that Clarke didn’t hear that, he offers the older couple a small smile and turns back to the menu, hiding behind the menu. He sees the waiter coming over and flags the waiter down, ordering for Clarke this time because he can’t be bothered to sit here for 30 minutes while she orders. He gets two pastrami sandwiches and a meat platter. They make idle chit chat, waiting for their meal to arrive, when it does he tucks in, blissfully unaware of Clarke staring daggers at him

‘So what do you do with these women? You just get up out of bed and leave?’ He can sense the irritation in her voice. 

‘Yep’

‘Explain to me how you do it. What do you say?’

‘I say I have an early meeting or an early squash game.’

‘You don’t play squash. You hate the game.’

‘They don’t know that. They just met me’ He says mid bite of his sandwich. 

‘Pig’ 

‘I feel terrible. I really do’

She slaps more pastrami onto her plate. 

‘I am so glad I never got involved with you. I’d just be some lady you’d leave in the middle of the night, waking up to find the bed empty. Realising that you only wanted one thing. You’re a pig.’

The woman that once saw them as a cute couple catches his eye, she looks horrified, whereas her husband looks incredibly amused. Damn these tables for being so close together. 

‘Why are you getting so upset about this?’ He asks, lowering his voice

‘Because you’re a human affront to all women. And I’m a woman.’

‘Look, I don’t feel great about it, but I don’t hear them complaining’ 

‘Of course not. You’re out the door too fast’

‘I think they have an okay time’ 

‘How do you know’

‘What do you mean, how do I know? I know.’

‘Because they ——?’ She starts gesturing with her hands. 

‘Yep, because they —!’ He decided to mimic her gestures, because she’s being ridiculous. He satisfies every single one of the women he sleeps with. 

‘How do you know they’re really — ‘

‘Are you saying, they fake orgasm?’ He puts his sandwich down and stares at her shocked.

‘Possibly’

‘Nope, no way. I would be able to tell.’

‘Most woman, at one time or another, have faked it.’

‘Yeah, well, they haven’t faked it with me.’ He’s irritated now.

‘How do you know?’

‘I know’

‘Ah right. You know.’ She starts laughing

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing. You’re a man, so you think it has never happened to you. But at one time or another a woman’s faked it. 

‘You don’t think I can tell the difference?’

‘No’

‘You’re insane.’

Then he starts hearing sounds. He looks up and Clarke’s biting her lips, her hand flies into her hair and she sighs. ‘Oof’ her tongue wets her lips and her hand tightens its grasp in her hair. 

‘You alright’ 

‘Oh god’ she whines, her hand falls out of her hair and makes it way down her jaw and brushes past her breasts. ‘Oh god’ this time louder. Bellamy’s startled, people around the tables are starting to stare at her. Her eyes are closed and she’s almost screaming ‘God, god, god, keep going. Oh my god. Oh my god.’ Her hand slams down on the table, making the cutler and glasses shake. The once noisy restaurant is now dead silent, all eyes remain on Clarke, some horrified, others intrigued. ‘Yes, Oh God, Yes, Yes. That’s it. Yes.’ She abruptly stops and as if nothing happened she gives him an innocent smile and turns back to her sandwich. 

Bellamy is frozen, he doesn’t know whether he’s aroused or shocked. He’s aware that his mouth is hanging wide open. He hears the woman next to them turn to a waiter and says.

‘I’ll have what she’s having’

—————————————————————————————————————

December 11th 2005

It’s Christmas in 2 weeks. Yesterday, Bellamy helped her carry her Christmas tree home. She held the top whilst he held the bottom, constantly cursing about how cold the weather is. Once arriving, she forced him to help her decorate it, promising him wine afterwards. 

Today she’s with Harper, whose 8 months pregnant. They’ve been making Christmas cookies together. Harper laughs while Clarke’s been telling her about the horror story dates she’s been on in the past few weeks.

‘I love hearing about horrible dates.’ She wipes a tear from her eye due to laughing so much. She returns to her cookie, writing Monty in red icing with a heart under his name. 

Clarke turns to her cookie, writing Bellamy’s name. He’s been feeling out of sorts recently, still hurt from his divorce. Harper glances over and sees what she’s writing.

‘I don’t see why you don’t get involved with your friend, Bellamy’

She sighs ‘Because that’s just it. We’re friends.’

‘But if you could be more — ?’

‘No — he’s —.’ She stops.

‘He’s what?’ Harper pushes

‘He’s a mess.’

‘Then why are you making a cookie for him?’

‘He’s a nice mess.’

—————————————————————————————————————

December 31st 2005

It’s New Year’s Eve and Bellamy took her out to a party, they’re currently dancing, when the music turns slower. He shrugs and pulls her in, they slow dance. It makes her think back to that moment in her apartment only a few months ago. 

‘Thank you for taking me out tonight’ 

‘No worries. And next year if neither one of us is with somebody, you’ve got a date.’

‘Deal’

The music slows. The stand in front of each other and a small smile appears on both of their faces. 

‘Do you want to get some air?’

‘Sure’

They walk out of the room, towards the deck. Clarke turns to Bellamy.

‘Bell, do you think the fact that we’re friends is keeping us from finding someone?’

‘Yes. Let’s stop being friends, go home right now and make love.’

She laughs ‘Be serious’ 

They hear the countdown. ’10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Happy New Year!’ Everyone starts kissing. 

They both shrug their shoulders. His hand reaches for her jaw, cupping her cheek. He gives a reassuring smile and closes the distance. They're lips touch, almost as if he’s testing the water. He deepens the kiss, both of his hands come up to cup her jaw and they both get lost in the kiss. A drunk man, runs over to the balcony throwing up over the side. The moment ends and they break apart.

‘Happy New Year, Bell.’ She whispers 

‘Happy New Year, Princess’

He tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. She blushes. The man behind them keeps throwing up.

‘I’m going to go check on him’ She says, then she rushes over to the man. Grabbing an empty plant pot and letting him use it, whilst she coos and rubs his back. She looks back over to Bellamy, who’s still watching her. Their eye contact breaks when a woman walks up to Bellamy, she sighs and turns back to the drunk man who is now apparently crying. She's pretty sure the petite brunette has all of Bellamy's attention now, so Clarke focuses on rubbing the man's back as he continues to throw up.

But what Clarke's not aware of is how Bellamy's intently watching her, completely and utterly in awe of her.


	6. Chapter 6

The love seat appears, with another older couple on it, smiling looking into the camera.

‘We fell madly in love in high school.’

‘We were high school sweethearts’

‘I just said that. Didn’t I just say that? But after our junior year, his parents moved away.’

‘But I never forgot her’

‘He never forgot me’

‘Her faced burned itself on my brain. Thirty-four years later I see her coming out of Toffenetti’s’

‘We looked at each other and it was as if not one day went by’

‘She looked as beautiful as when she was sixteen years old’

‘He looked the same, he looked exactly the same.’

‘And we haven’t been apart one day since then.’

‘Not one day’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

June 2nd 2006

Clarke’s walking with Raven, arm in arm. She’s missed her, they haven’t see a lot of each other recently. Raven’s been busy with Wick and Clarke’s been busy with Bellamy, making sure he’s okay. They’re headed to a restaurant to meet Bellamy and his friend, Murphy.

‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’

‘Look, Bellamy is one of my best friends, and you are one of my best friends, and if by some chance you two hit it off, we could all still be friends instead of drifting apart the way you do when you get involved with someone who doesn’t know your friends.’

‘You and I haven’t drifted apart since I started seeing Wick’

‘If Wick ever left his wife and I actually met him, I’m sure you and I would still drift apart.’

‘He’s never going to leave her.’

‘Of course he isn’t’

‘You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right’

———————————————————————————————-

Bellamy’s walking with Murphy, whose walking extremely quickly for someone that hates exercise. Bellamy lengthens his stride in order to keep up with him.

‘I hate myself for letting you talk me into this. I had gotten to a point in my life where I was comfortable with the fact that I was single. Emori left me and that was fine, I didn’t need anyone else after that. If Clarke’s so great, why aren’t you taking her out?’

‘How many times do I have to tell you, we're just friends.’

‘So you’re saying she’s not that attractive’

‘No, I told you she was attractive’

‘But you also said she had a good personality’

‘She has a great personality’

Murphy sighs and rolls his eyes, giving him a glaring look.

‘What?’

‘You are idiot, you know that right.’

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy, Raven, Clarke and Murphy are all sitting at a table. On what seems to be a double date, but is really the most awkward situation Clarke has ever been a part of. Murphy is nice, but after small talk and the occasional laughter, they have nothing in common. She just hopes Raven and Bellamy are getting on, she hears him ask Raven a question and tunes into their conversation.

‘Where are you from?’

‘Philadelphia’

‘I’ve never been to Philadelphia’

‘It’s nice’ Raven smiles

‘I’m sure it’s great’

They all look at each other and then look at their menus. Oh god this is going to be a long night. 

‘So what are we going to order?’ Bellamy asks

‘I’m going have the ravioli.’ Clarke declares

‘Murph, Clarke is a great orderer. It’s not just that she always picks the best thing on the menu. She orders it in such a way that it comes out in a way the chef had no idea how good it could be’ He starts laughing and pulls a smile from Raven.

Clarke shoots him a glare and then Murphy starts speaking

‘I think restaurants like this have become overrated. They think their extravagant decor entitles them to charge extortionate prices.’ 

‘I agree, there’s this simple restaurant down Allen Street that has quite possibly the nicest food I have ever tasted. It’s called ‘JM's Place’ 

Murphy starts chocking on his water, he turns to her with a beaming smile on his face. 

‘That’s my restaurant! I'm JM! John Murphy’

‘No way. That’s my favourite place in the whole of New York. That’s amazing. Don’t you think that’s amazing!’ Raven exclaims turning to Bellamy and Clarke who nod along.

Bellamy and Clarke look at one another as Murphy and Raven fall into an avid conversation. 

————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy, Clarke, Raven and Murphy come out of that restaurant. They start to walk along the road. All four of them in a row, briefly talking about the meal and what a nice night it is. They walk past a shoe store, and Raven suddenly yanks Clarke over, to apparently look at the shoes. Murphy and Bellamy keep walking.

‘Clarke — 

‘Do you like him?’ Clarke asks

‘Bellamy? He’s nice. But — how do you feel about Murphy?’

‘He seems okay. I co—

‘Would you go out with him?’

‘No, I don't think so —

‘I feel like we get along very well’

‘You want to go out with Murphy.’

‘Would it be okay with you?’

‘Sure. Sure I’m just worried about Bell. He’s very fragile and the moment, he’s going through a rough period, so don’t reject him right away, you know?’

‘Oh no, I wouldn’t. I understand’ 

Funnily enough the same conversation is taking place, with Murphy and Bellamy.

‘If you don’t think you’re going to call Raven, do you mind if I call her?’

‘Well, no. No. But for tonight you shouldn’t — Clarke’s very sensitive. I mean, you can call Raven, it’s fine, in a week, you know, after a decent interval, but don’t make any moves tonight.’

‘Fine. No problem. I wouldn’t do that tonight’

Clarke and Raven join them and Murphy kicks at a rock.

‘Well… I don’t feel like walking anymore, I think I’ll get a cab’

Raven perks up at that ‘I’ll go with you’

‘Great’ Murphy leaps into the road, hailing a cab ‘Taxi!’

The cab screeches to a halt, Raven and Murphy get into it, the cab pulls away, leaving Bellamy and Clarke on the curb. The look at each other in shock.

‘Ice cream?’ she asks

‘Alright’

The walk off. Together.

—————————————————————————————————————

September 17th 2006

Clarke’s looking for gifts for Evie and Jordan her godson and goddaughter. She wants to spoil those kids rotten, they deserve everything in the world. They’ve walked into a baby and kids toy shop. Clarke’s looking at the cute little pink jumpsuits, whilst Bellamy is looking at finding some toys for Jordan.

‘There’s too much in this shop, too many choices! Do I go for a denim jumpsuit or for a co ord. Oh maybe Corduroy, Bell what do you think?’

‘Clarke, the kids 3 months old. It won’t care what it’s wearing. Pick this.’ He says 

He holds up the ugliest cashmere jumper she’s ever seen, even its tiny size doesn’t make up for its atrocious design. She rolls her eyes and scoffs in disgust she continues searching, moving now towards the shoe collection. She finds a collection of cotton flower hair clips and clip on earings that she could use to dress Evie up one day. Then a thought comes into her head and she calls Bellamy over, he wanders over amused and she tells him to close his eyes. He does as he’s told and she puts the clips into his hair. She doubles over laughing not forgetting to take photographic evidence of which she can immediately send to Octavia.

‘Damn, I look amazing.’

He starts strutting around the baby shop, winking at the cashiers and store clerks who can’t help grinning at him, he struts over to her smirking.

‘Hey Princess, I bet you haven’t seen a man look this good.’ The flowery clip starts to fall loose in his hair. 

She laughs and stretches out her hand into the curls she loves so much to adjust the flowery clips back in place. 

‘Thank you darling’ He grins and turns to walk to the mirror, but stops. He falters and the grin disappears on his face, now he looks like he’s about to throw up.

‘Bell, what’s wrong.’ 

‘Its Echo with Roan’ He coughs and turns back to her. ‘The guy she left me for.’ The pain and anger he’s been suppressing for over a year, is beginning to show. She’s been preparing for this, waiting for the eruption, although she didn’t think it would happen in a child's toy store.

‘They’re walking over’

Echo, she’s heard a lot about her. The woman is gorgeous, she's tall and beautifully dressed. Her skirt accentuates her curves and her long sleek brown hair is curled perfectly. She looks like she been plucked out of a Cosmopolitan catalogue. She's accompanied by a rather tall man, who she guesses to be about 6'3. He's incredibly intimidating and she knows this encounter must be destroying Bellamy, so she slots herself into his side, and feels his arm wrap around her shoulder, he looks down at her and smiles. It’s silent and then Echo speaks.

‘How are you, Bell?’

The old nickname, seems to trigger a response from Bellamy. She feels his shoulders tense, his fist curl and his jaw locks. 

‘Fine, I’m fine’ He’s staring at the man next to her.

‘This is Roan Azgeda. Roan this is Bellamy Blake’

‘Roan’ Bellamy spits out

The two men shake hands. For a kids toy store, there sure is a lot of testosterone and awkwardness about, she would make a joke about this but it’s not the time. Bellamy turns to Clarke, she can see his desperation to involve her in the conversation, his desperation for support, so she introduces herself.

‘Hi, I’m Clarke’ She gives a weak smile to both of them. 

‘Nice to meet you’ Echo says

A moment of silence emerges, Clarke can sense Echo moving to leave when Bellamy stops her.

‘Why are you in here? Tell me you’re here for your friend’s kids. Please don’t tell me you’re here for you and him —

She tries to interrupt him ‘Bell —

‘No!’ He shouts but quietens due to the environment they are in. ‘No, you don’t get to call me that anymore, you left me. You have no right - ’

‘I know. I know’ 

‘So are you?’ He chokes out

‘Pregnant?’ She asks and he nods. Silence.

‘About 3 months’ She whispers placing a hand over her stomach.

‘Christ!’ He shouts ‘Well, congratulations. You always said you wanted children’ He spits, the sentence drips with sarcasm. He turns his back on Echo and strides towards the back of the store.

‘It was nice meeting you’ Clarke says, and gives them a small smile. ‘I’ll tell him you said goodbye’ She meets Echo’s eyes who reciprocates the smile and joins hands with Roan leaving the store. 

Clarke rushes over to Bellamy who’s staring at the door, Echo just left. She stops in front of him, he grabs her by the waist and encases her in a tight hug. He releases her and stares out at the door, his ex-wife just exited.

‘5 years and she never wanted kids, said she never saw herself as a mother and could only be my wife’ His voice catches ‘And now…’ He doesn’t finish his sentence, he just stares out at the door. ‘That’s one thing you can rely on Echo to do’ he mutters

‘What?’

‘Lie’

Clarke pays for the items for Evie and Jordan, she sees Bellamy walk past a mirror, he views his reflection and curses. He rips out the flowery clips from his hair and the clip on earrings, and dumps them on the store clerk's counter. He walks outside to wait for her. She turns to the clerks and asks for the flowery clips and earrings, because they were suppose to be for Evie anyway. She gives the shop assistants a quick smile and hastily exits the shop. Outside she spots Bellamy sitting on a bench, staring at the floor. He looks up and sees her, and she thinks he might be crying. He quickly sits up and wipes away the tears around his eyes. He takes her bags, the gentlemen as ever, and they walk off in silence to quickly drop them off at Harper and Monty's place. They don't stay too long as they promised they would help Raven and Murphy decorate their new apartment. This whole time they haven't said a word to each other, they've walked in complete and utter silence.

————————————————————————————————————

Raven opens the door, her hair is piled on top in a messy bun, Murphy’s in the kitchen putting away his stuff. Both Murphy and Raven have lazy smiles on their face, obviously caught in the honeymoon period, Clarke misses that feeling. Raven ushers both of them in and drags Clarke around their apartment. Boxes and furniture are piled around, books lay scattered on the counter tops. She leads Clarke back to the living area, where Bellamy has been making small chatter with Murphy. Raven walks over to Murphy and slots perfectly in his side, pecking him on the cheek. Clarke occasionally inputs her opinion on the apartment, showering the couple in nothing but happy praise, but Bellamy seems to be distracted. Now Raven and Murphy are arguing but over the furniture, more specifically over a coffee table, she remembers doing that with Finn.

‘I like the goddamn table, Raven’

‘Of course you like it, you bought it. We’ll let Bellamy and Clarke decide, guys what do you think should we keep it or not?’ Raven gives Clarke a pointed look, thinking Murphy won’t notice, whilst Murphy gives Bellamy a death glare. 

‘It’s nice’ 

Murphy claps his hand ‘Case closed, Bellamy thinks it’s nice. We keep it’ 

‘No, that doesn’t count. He’s a guy he doesn’t care. Clarke, look at this. Look at this coffee table.’

The coffee table is horrid, she hates it and she knows Bellamy hates it as well. Any other day, he would’ve brutally expressed his opinion, but not on the day his ex wife shows up in a baby toy store 3 months pregnant. She grimaces and shrugs her shoulders. 

‘See!’ Raven jabs at Murphy’s side. ‘Clarke doesn’t like it’

‘What’s so bad about this table?’

‘Honey, I can’t even begin to describe to you how much is wrong with this table. It’s not going in the front room, if we had an extra room, maybe it could go in there.’

Murphy gasps, clutching his chest as if he’s been wounded, this brings out a giggle from Raven. ‘I don’t object to any of your things’ 

‘That’s because I have taste’

‘And I don’t have taste’

‘You have taste, when it comes to the kitchen. The kitchen is your area of expertise, but besides the kitchen you have no opinion.’ She kisses his cheek.

Murphy stands back faking astonishment. He turns to Bellamy

‘Blake?’ Someone has to be on my side’

Clarke watches Bellamy, he doesn’t respond. He just sits by the window staring at nothing.

‘I am on your side. I’m just trying to improve your home decor skills.’

‘I have home decor skills!’

Watching Raven and Murphy, makes Clarke realises the longing she has for a relationship. They are perfect together. Raven’s just about to comment something, when Bellamy stands up and interrupts.

‘You start out like this’ He starts pointing at Raven and Murphy, whilst waving his hands around the room. ‘We started out like this. Echo and I. We had blank walls, we bought things together and hung them up. We looked at watches and jewellery. We looked at coffee tables. And do you know what happened? Six years later you wind up in a baby store, wearing earrings and flowery clips in front of Roan.’ He shouts in frustration, clenching his fists as if he’s looking for something to punch, Clarke has to step in now.

‘Bell, I know you’re upset, but do we have to talk about this right now?’

‘What’s wrong with right now? It’s a perfect time to talk about this. I just want them to see the realities of what this leads to. Everything’s fine, everybody’s in love, everybody’s happy — and before you know it, you’re screaming at each other about who owns the TV.’ He’s shouting now ‘I mean it. I mean it. Put your name in your books. Now, while you’re unpacking them, before you get mixed up together and you can’t remember whose is whose. Because someday, you’re going to be fighting over who’s going to get this horrible stupid coffee table.’ 

‘I thought you liked it.’ Murphy exclaims

‘I was being nice!’ Bellamy shouts. He marches out of the apartment and slams the door. Clarke turns to Murphy and Raven.

‘He just bumped into Echo’ Clarke says and then she rushes out of the door after Bellamy, leaving Raven and Murphy. Raven turns to boyfriend puts her hands on his chest and says

‘I just want you to know that I will never want that coffee table.’ He laughs and she leans in for a kiss. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy’s pacing outside the apartment block as Clarke rushes out.

‘I know, I know. I shouldn’t have done that.’

‘Bell, you have to have a better hold on your emotions. You need to stop expressing every thing you feel every moment they arise. 

‘Oh, really?’

‘Yes. There are times and places for things.’

‘Princess, do me a favour. Go and screw yourself.’ He spits

‘Excuse me?’ She’s taken aback

‘I think I’m entitled to be little angry or upset, when I see my ex-wife with a man she’s know for a year, pregnant. I think I’m entitled to express my anger. You wouldn’t know a thing about that, princess’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing, fucking bothers you.’ He shouts ‘You never get upset about anything. Finn cheated on you and you stayed with him for three more fucking years, you break up and nothing. Your mother cheated on your dad, nothing. Your best friend ups and leaves and nothing. You didn’t even try to contact him. You don’t fucking feel anything.’

‘Bellamy you’re crossing the line.’ She can feel the tears gathering up in her eyes, but she won’t give him the satisfaction of that. He just wants to take his anger out on her, she will not be his punching bag.

‘So what? You stand so far behind the line, you don’t even know where the line is. You will let anyone hurt you, princess’ 

‘I had my mourning period, for Finn, for my mother, for my father and even for Wells. I bore it alone, in order to move on. I have moved on, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. You don’t get to throw any of that back in my face. I don’t have to take this from you.’

She turns to walk back into the building, but he grabs her arm and pulls her back to him. 

‘If you’re so over Finn, why haven’t you been seeing anyone?’

‘I see people.’

‘See people? Let me ask you something. Have you slept with one person since you broke up with Finn?’

‘Fuck you, Bellamy. Fuck you. You don’t get to use that against me, I will sleep with someone when I want to, when I feel like I can trust them and like them enough to do so. Sex isn’t some meaningless thing to me, like it is to you, I can’t just sleep with some random guy and hope that Finn becomes a distant memory. You’re desperately trying to replace Echo in your mind and it’s not working Bell. It’s not working. It’s just making you frustrated and angry and you're taking it out on me.’ She stops and exhales they both look at each other. 

‘I’m sorry, princess.’ He opens his arms for a hug and she steps into his embrace. 

‘I’m sorry too.’ After a while they pull apart and walk back inside.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys
> 
> I just wanted to say I'm very sorry for the delay with getting this chapter up. Thank you so much for the comments, it means so much. 
> 
> We're coming up to the end now.
> 
> Hope you enjoy ;)

A middle aged man sits on the loveseat, this time he’s alone. He’s teary eyed and his voice occasionally catches as he looks into the camera

‘We broke up, about a year ago. I saw her recently in the street she seemed happier. She said I looked great, she was probably just being kind. Brooke was always kind. We dated, we lived together, I thought I would marry her one day. But in all honesty, I took her for granted.’ He stops, staring at his feet. After a while he clears his throat and looks up at the camera. ‘I lost her’. He states it simply.

—————————————————————————————————————

September 2nd 2006

It’s currently 11pm on a Friday evening and Clarke’s pretty buzzed. She’s in a bar, with Harper, Monty, Raven, Murphy and Cillian. Harper and Monty managed to get babysitting for the night, with Harper’s mother looking after Evie and Jordan. Murphy and Raven have just recently arrived back from their trip to Florida, in their bubble of happiness. And then there’s Cillian, apparently he’s been working at New York Presbyterian for the past 4 years, he’s a Neurosurgeon Attending, she’s debating whether that’s a red flag or not, they're usually stereotyped for being overly cocky and thinking they run the hospital. But, she’s giving him a chance. They’ve been dating for the past couple of months, she introduced him to Bellamy who surprisingly didn’t take a liking to him at all. After that she hasn’t really seen him in the past few weeks. According to him, he’s busy at work, according to Octavia, he’s been seeing a woman called Gina. 

She’s curled up on Cillian’s lap, he head resting against his chest whilst he runs one hand up and down her back placing the other firmly on her upper thing. Around 11:30, Bellamy enters the bar, she feels Cillian shift his position and tighten his hold on Clarke’s thigh. She wants to get up and give her best friend a hug, but she’s firmly weighed down on Cillian’s lap, she would try and fight it but she’s a bit to drunk to move without throwing up. So instead she briefly looks up to Bellamy and gives him a smile, he winks at her causing a small blush rises on her face. She turns her head back towards Cillian resting her head on his chest and she feels him kiss her temple. 

Bellamy slots himself in the U shaped booth, sitting next to Murphy who slaps him on the back and they dive into a conversation about the upcoming Met’s game. After a while Murphy, Bellamy and Monty stand up and head to the bar for the next round, whilst Harper and Raven rush off to the bathroom. It’s just her and Cillian. She looks up at him and smiles and he captures her mouth kissing her possessively, he kisses down her jaw and makes his way to her ear. 

‘You look so good tonight, babe’ he whispers

She giggles and starts shifting upon his lap and, accidentally, brushes against his crotch, he groans into her ear and she smirks wrapping her arms around his neck. He encases her in a hug and she looks over to the bar, locking eyes with Bellamy. She forgets about Cillian, she forgets about everything and they just look at each other. His face is a combination of anger and pain, which she recognises from when they bumped into Echo. She gives him a small smile, but he turns his head and downs his drink, turning back to Murphy and Monty. All the couples return, with Monty and Harper collapsing into the booth, falling next to Cillian which pushes her further towards the edge. Raven scoots next to Harper whilst Murphy and Bellamy walk over, followed by a man she instantly recognises. She dislodges from Cillian’s embrace and jumps up and flinging her arms around her old friend. 

‘Nate!’ She squeals and stands back to get a good look at him. 

‘Hi Griffin’ He encases her in another hug and they turn back to the table. 

‘How do you know Miller?’ Murphy asks, slotting himself back into the booth, with one hand on his pint and the other around Raven.

‘Yeah, how’d you know this idiot?’ Bellamy jokes slapping Miller on the back as he sits next to him.

‘In medical school, I became friends with his boyfriend, at the time, Jackson. We helped each other study before every exam, he got me through my first year. Then one night, we went out to a party. Jackson met Nate and the rest is history. How is Jackson? Please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid and that you’re still together?’ She sits back down and feels Cillian wrap his arm around her waist. 

‘Yes we are still together’ He chuckles ‘Jackson’s actually here, he’s just parking the car.’ 

‘Jackson’s here?’ She squeals

‘Yep and he’s transferring to New York-Presbyterian, he’ll be working with you.’ 

Jackson walks into the bar and she jumps into her old friends arms, they all sit down together and introductions are made. The chatter commences with Jackson and Cillian hitting it off and talking all things science, nerds. Murphy and Raven are caught in their own little bubble and Monty and Harper chatter away with Miller. Clarke’s desperate for a drink of water, so she walks over to the bar. She feels someone slide up next to her. 

‘He seem’s nice, very touchy-feely, didn’t know you were into that, princess.’ 

‘I like him’ She states or maybe she slurs 

‘So is this really serious then, have you had sex with him yet?’ 

She almost chokes at that question, why the hell does he want to know that? She chooses to ignore his question and decides to ask him a separate one.

‘How’s Gina?’ She beams up at him and he gives her a glare.

‘I’m sure Gina’s great, now answer my question?’ He moves his head closer to hers, their lips almost a cm apart. 

‘No, we haven’t’ She whispers

‘Good’ He smirks, he takes another shot and saunters off back to the booth. To say she’s confused is an understatement. She waits at the bar for a couple more minutes, slowly catching her breath.

‘He likes you’ She turns to see Miller sitting next to her. 

‘He’s my friend’ She sighs, because the amount of times she’s said this is ridiculous 

‘Bellamy Blake will never just be your friend.’

‘I’m with Cillian’ 

‘For now’ 

‘Why are you doing this? I haven’t seen you in 4 years, and this is what you choose to talk to me about?’ She says laughing to ease the tension.

‘Griff, I’ve known you and Blake a long time and I’ve never met someone as clueless as you. You like him and despite what you may believe, he likes you too. So do us all a favour and do something about it.’

She opens her mouth to respond, her heart is beating furiously out of her chest, she turns back to see Bellamy smiling at her, he gives her his classic wink and then turns back to Jackson. In that moment, it’s like she’s looking at him for the first time and she gets butterflies. She looks to Cillian who is laughing at something Raven said, he turns and looks at her and beams, she feels nothing. She turns back to look at Miller.

‘Don’t be an idiot’ He says before picking up his drink and returning to his boyfriend. 

She lies her head on the bar top and closes her eyes. She feels a hand on her waist and slowly opens her eyes, to see Cillian. Her heart deflates a little. 

‘Ready to go?’ He asks moving a strand of hair out of her face. 

She nods and yawns, he leads her over to the table and they say their goodbyes. All the time her eyes are locked on Bellamy, who won’t look her in the eye. She looks down at Miller who shrugs his shoulders and she leaves with Cillian. 

She stops outside, whilst Cillian hails a cab, he starts talking to the taxi driver probably giving his address. She receives two texts.

One from Miller that reads. ‘You’re an idiot’ 

Another from Bellamy that reads. ‘Goodnight, princess’ 

She turns her phone off and meets Cillian’s eye, she may like him, but this isn’t fair to him, when she’s so confused. He’s holding the door open for her, she kisses his cheek and steps back. 

‘I’m sorry, Cillian.’

‘Sorry for what?’ He asks, perplexed

‘I’m going home’

‘Okay, do you want me to give him your address instead?’

‘No, no. I’m going home. Alone. To think.’ She stresses the last part

He looks completely stunned, he laughs and shakes his head. He’s opens the car door and is about to get in but stops and turns back to her. 

‘Work out whatever it is you need to think about, but I’m done.’

‘Cill — He cuts her off and slams the taxi door closed, which pulls off into the night.

She stands there in the cold, rocking back on her feet. She’s angry with herself because she doesn’t know why she’s so confused and it doesn’t help that she’s tipsy. She turns to walk home, but someone grabs her arm, Bellamy. 

‘Where’s Cillian?’ 

‘He left’

‘Where are you going?’ 

‘Home’ 

‘And you thought you’d walk home alone, when you're drunk?’ His voice sounds angry

‘I needed a minute to think’ 

‘I’ll walk you home then’ 

‘No. Bell it’s fine. I wanna think’ 

She pats his shoulder and smiles and walks off. She feels someone brush up against her shoulder, she looks to her side and sees him walking next to her staring straight ahead. She smiles to herself and they walk home in complete silence.

—————————————————————————————————————

October 27th 2006

Bellamy’s in bed, marking student exams. The improvement he’s witnessed in his students, confirms why he does this job. He flips onto the last page and marks it with an A. Then collects the pack of papers and places them into his bag. He’s just about to head to bed, when he hears his phone ring.

‘Hello?’

‘Are you alone?’ 

‘Yeah.’

‘Could you come over?

‘What’s the matter?’

‘He’s getting married’

‘Who?

‘Finn.’

With that he hangs up the phone, sprints to the door grabbing his coat and scarf, shoves his shoes on and rushes out of the door towards Clarke’s apartment. 

—————————————————————————————————————

He knocks on Clarke’s door and it immediately opens. Clarke stares back at him, her hair in a top bun, wearing a grey jumper and black sweatpants. She’s crying, something he’s never truly seen before.

‘Come in.’ She blubbers. 

He shuts the door, putting the latch on the door. He turns to her and pulls her in for a hug, when she pulls away, little droplets appear on his jumper. 

‘I’m sorry to call you so late’ She wanders into her bedroom and he follows sitting down on the edge of her bed

‘It’s okay’ 

Clarke keeps crying, she tucks her self into his side and he holds her.

‘I need a tissue’ 

She starts wandering around the bedroom, Bellamy leans over to her bedside table and grabs a tissue box. He moves to place it in front of her and she takes a tissue, blowing her nose and wiping her eyes.

‘He just called me up. Just wanted to see how you were. Fine, how are you? Fine’

Bellamy’s been watching her pace her bedroom, she falls next to him on the bed and sighs.

‘His secretary, Daphne is on vacation, every thing’s backed up, he’s got a big case in Newark, blah blah blah, I’m sitting on the phone thinking, I am over him, I really am over him, I can’t believe I was ever remotely interested in him, I mean for god sakes he cheated on me. Then he said, I have some news’ She stops and the tears pour down her face.

‘They’ve been dating for a 3 months, they met at a conference in Ohio. Apparently she’s everything he’s been looking for. He took her on a spontaneous holiday to Rome and popped the question. Her names Monroe, he just met her and he popped the question.’ She rests her head on his shoulder and cries, Bellamy wipes away her tears. ‘I know he cheated on me, I know I shouldn’t even care… but Bell I do care. I care so much.’ She puts her head in her hands and sobs. ‘All this time I’ve been saying that he didn’t want to get married. The truth is, he didn’t want to get married to me. He never wanted to be with me’ 

‘If you could have him back right now, would you take him back?’

‘No. But why didn’t he want me? I remember sitting in that apartment 4 years ago, I remember sitting there thinking, why am I not good enough for him? What is so wrong with me that he had to sleep with someone else? Now I find myself thinking the same thing. He was with me for 5 years but he's been with her for 3 months and somehow she's the one. What’s wrong with me Bell?

‘Nothing is wrong with you, princess’ He tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and kisses her temple. 

‘I’m difficult’ she chokes out

‘You’re challenging’ 

‘I’m completed closed off.’

‘Yeah, but in the best way.’ He tickles at her sides trying to bring out a laugh from her.

‘I’m going to be forty soon’ She sobs even harder and curls into a ball on her bed, Bellamy lies down next to her and grabs a tissue wiping away her tears.

‘When?’

‘Some day.’ She whispers

‘In eight years.’ He remarks, he watches her sit back up 

‘But it’s there, sitting there like some dead end. It’s a constant reminder of time running out. You’re a man you wouldn’t understand’ 

‘Come here’ She starts crying again and he pulls her closer, he starts kissing her temple, then kisses her cheek whilst wiping away her tears. He kisses the corner of her mouth and then pulls back looking into her eyes, expressing her sadness and isolation. He kisses her, not like he kissed at new years, this kiss is filled with frustration, longing and passion. She lies down on the bed and he hovers on top of her, looking down he searches for an out. 

‘I can go?’

She shakes her head and reaches out stroking his cheek. 

‘Stay’ She whispers

He closes the gap between then. The kiss wasn’t as heated as it was before, it’s slow and deliberate. Bellamy placed his arms on her waist, pulling her flush against him. She breaks away moaning. Bellamy grunts in reply and sucking and kissing his way down her neck. He reaches over to the bedside light, turning the lights off.

—————————————————————————————————————

Clarke and Bellamy lie next to each other under the covers, Clarke curls up into Bellamy’s side resting her head on his chest, she raises her head watching him stare straight ahead.

‘You comfortable?’ She asks

He nods and an awkward silence arises. 

‘Do you want something to drink or something?’

‘No, no, that’s okay’

‘Well, I’m going to get up for some water, so it’s no trouble’ 

‘Okay then.’

She grabs her dressing robe and leaves the room. She wanders into the kitchen with a grin on her face. She runs some water into the two glasses with ice. Then wanders back to the bedroom, before she enters she can see Bellamy lying in the same position she left him in, with an expression of terror and regret on his face. Her heart sinks. She walks into the room and hands him a glass of water. 

‘Thanks’ He mutters

It’s unbelievably awkward, worse than 11 years ago when they were stuck in that damn Toyota.

‘Do you want to watch something?’ She asks

‘No, no. Not unless you do.’ 

‘No, that’s okay.’ 

‘So, do you want to go to sleep?’

‘Sure.’

He turns the lights off for the second time that night and they lie in silence.

‘Are you comfortable?’

‘Sure.’

‘It’s a very hard mattress. I’m sorry’

‘No worries. I like hard mattresses’

‘Goodnight, Bell’

‘Goodnight, Clarke’

Clarke turns her back to Bellamy as he just lies there, she feels sick. She feels tears burning in her eyes, she feels worse than she did when Finn called. She closes her eyes desperate for sleep to over come her. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Clarke wakes up, she turns to her alarm reading the time as 6:02. She turns to the other half of the bed, empty. She turns over and sees Bellamy, getting dressed. 

‘Where are you going?’

‘I gotta go’

She stares at him

‘I have to go home and change, I’ve got an early squash game and then I have to go to work, but I’d like to take you out to dinner if you’re free. Are you free?’

‘Yes’

‘I’ll call you later’ 

She nods her head. He rushes over to her and gives her an awkward kiss and then walks out, no sprints out. The door slams shut and she’s left feeling empty and used. She grabs her phone, desperate to call Raven. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Raven and Murphy are curled up together, asleep in bed. Then Raven’s phone starts ringing, Murphy wakes up and kisses her cheek, she smiles and kisses his lips. Then reaches for her phone and answers since it’s Clarke. Murphy rolls back over, muttering profanities about Clarke calling so early

‘Hello’

‘I’m sorry to call you so early’ 

‘Are you all right?’

‘I did something terrible’

‘What did you do?’

‘It was so awful’ Clarke says

Murphy’s phone starts ringing and he groans, he grabs his phone and answers, since it’s Bellamy. 

‘Why are you calling at this hour, Blake?’

‘Murph, I think the depth of our friendship implies a call-at-any-hour policy’.

Raven and Murphy are sitting up in bed now, both talking to Bellamy and Clarke. 

‘Raven, Bellamy came over last night —— 

‘What’s the matter? Murphy asks

‘I went over to Clarke’s last night —— 

‘——because I was upset that Finn was getting married ——

‘——and one thing led to another ——

‘——and he was comforting me and before I knew it we were kissing —and then…

‘——to make a long story short ——

‘We did it.’ Clarke says with her head in her hands

‘We did it.’ Bellamy sighs

Raven and Clarke both look at each other and mouth ‘They did it.’ Both look excited at the prospect of their friends finally getting over themselves. They turn back to their phones.

‘That’s great, Clarke’ Raven exclaims

‘We’ve been praying for it.’ Murphy laughs

‘You should have done it in the first place’ Raven says

‘For four months we’ve been saying, if only they would do it.’ Murphy sighs

‘You belong together’ Raven says

‘How was it?’ Murphy asks, smirking

‘The sex was good, really good’ Bellamy says

‘I thought it was good’

‘— but after, I panicked’ 

‘— but then I guess it wasn’t’

‘I’m sorry, Clarke’ 

‘Why’d you panic?’

‘I don’t know, she’s one of my closest friends and I was worried I’d ruined everything and that she might have thought I took advantage of her. I just wanted to get out of there’

‘Raven, he flew out the door, couldn’t get out fast enough’

‘I feel terrible, Murph’

‘I’m so embarrassed’ 

‘That’s horrible, Clarke. I can’t believe he did that’

‘Look, it would have been great if it worked but it didn’t’ Murphy says

‘You should never go to bed with anyone ——

‘Tell me about it, Murph’ 

‘— when you’ve just found out your last boyfriend is getting married. Always a mistake’ Raven sighs

‘I know’ Clarke mutters

‘Do you want to come over for breakfast?’ Both Raven and Murphy ask at the same time, they look at each other horrified.

‘I’m not up to it, but thanks’ 

‘I feel too awful, Rae’ 

‘Good’

‘Good’

‘Call me later if you want to talk.’

‘I’ll call you later okay?’

Everyone hangs up. Raven and Murphy exhale and turn to each other.

‘God.’

‘I know’

‘Tell me I’ll never have to be out there again’

Murphy pulls her into a hug, peppering her face with kisses, he holds her and sighs.

‘You’ll never have to be out there again.’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

October 29th 2006

Bellamy and Clarke sit in front of each other. The waiter has delivered their food and water and Bellamy’s staring into his water, like it’s the most interesting thing he has ever seen. Clarke can’t stand this awkwardness between them 

‘It was a mistake’ Clarke states

She sees Bellamy’s whole demeanour relax, he sighs and he looks 100 pounds lighter. ‘I’m so relieved you think so, too… I’m not saying last night wasn’t a good’ He starts

‘It was’

‘Yes, it was’ He smirks

‘We should just never have done it.’

‘I couldn’t agree more’ 

The both nod and that offsetting awkwardness descends upon them again. 

‘I’m so relieved.’ 

‘Me, too.’

They continue to nod. It’s silent again.

‘It’s so nice when you can sit with someone and not have to talk. It just shows how really comfortable you are.’ Bellamy says.

If that so true, she thinks. Why is Bellamy the last person she wants to talk to or see at this moment?


	8. Chapter 8

I’ve been here all day, recording couples recounting the first time they me. This is an idea my boss has had for a while, at the time I thought it was ridiculous, but sitting here all day listening to every couples story. I would buy it. Now, I’m tired, hungry and depressed, because I never realised how single I am. 

I had scheduled the last couple of the day, but it appears they are late. And when I say late, I mean an hour late. So I turn to pack up when a blonde haired woman runs through the door, she doubles over out of breath.

‘We’re here, I’m sorry we’re hear’ 

I turn on the camera and gesture her to sit. We sit in awkward silence. 

‘He’s paying the cab driver’ She smiles 

I nod and look through my notes, after a while I hear the door open and the woman looks up to the man and smiles. She had smiled before politely, but not like this. Her whole face has lit up, due to his presence, the man sits next to her and wraps his arm her waist, kissing her on the cheek and she leans into his embrace. It’s so natural between them. 

They sit together on the love seat and stare at me. I realise I haven’t said a word by this point and cough, clearing my throat and ask them the question I’ve asked 8 times today already. 

‘So how did you two meet?’ 

—————————————————————————————————————

November 12th 2006

It’s the day of Raven and Murphy’s wedding. Clarke was shocked when after 5 months of them being together they’re now married. She was initially worried that they were rushing into this, but who is she kidding, they are it for each other. 

Clarke came alone of course. The wedding was beautiful, Raven walked down the aisle and all eyes were on her, but she watched Murphy, she saw the pure happiness break out on his face when he saw his future wife walking towards him. She caught Bellamy’s eye for a moment, but looked away instantly as if she’d been burned. She hasn’t spoken to Bellamy since they met for lunch after the incident, she’s been ignoring his calls and his appearances at her door. It hurts too much to look at him, because all she see’s is the guy that ran out on her, and only wanted to just be her friend. So she’s hiding in the bathroom, looking at her reflection, she tied her hair up and pinned it back into an updo hairstyle, letting two strands falling down her face. Her make up is minimal but makes her eyes prominent. She’s wearing a dark green strapless dress that falls down to her knees. She sighs and leaves the bathroom.

She spots Octavia and Lincoln and walks over to them. They’ve been together for a year now, ever since Clarke introduced to them to each other. Octavia officially moved in with Lincoln 4 months ago, she wouldn’t be surprised if Lincoln proposed tomorrow. The waiter comes around with a glass of champagne for the three of them, she takes a glass and out of the corner of her eye sees Octavia frozen giving Lincoln a death glare of some sort. 

‘You’re not drinking! What are you pregnant now?’ She snorts and looks at them

Both of them stare back at her, looking like deers in head lights. Lincoln coughs and then downs his glass of champagne

‘Oh my God! You’re pregnant’ She squeals!

‘Shush shush please! We just found out and we didn’t want to take the attention away from Raven and Murphy’s big day. Don’t tell anyone, please.’ 

‘Of course not!’ She envelopes Octavia in a hug, feeling tears emerge in her eyes ‘I’m so happy for you guys’ She smiles at the both of them.

Octavia slots into Lincoln sides, beaming up on him. Lincoln turns to her beaming. 

‘We were wondering Clarke, if perhaps, you would be our child's godmother? I mean you did bring us together. So how about it?’ 

‘Yes of course I will.’ She knows she’s slightly crying at this point, she cried like this when Harper and Monty asked her. 

She gives Octavia another hug and like its a habit, Octavia slots herself back into Lincoln’s side. They chat for a few minutes, and she hopes to slide away from the conversation to the bar, when Bellamy is brought up.

‘You spoken to Bell recently?’ O asks

‘No. No O I haven’t and I would love it if we didn’t talk about him right now.’ 

‘I want my child’s godparents to be on speaking terms, at least. Please talk to him, he’s your best friend’ 

She simply nods at Octavia, smothering the part of her that wants to scream. She looks down into her empty champagne class and places it down on the table. The bar sounds like a great idea about now. 

‘I’m sure my grandparents are around here somewhere’ Lincoln says. She can always count on him to move the conversation on. She looks around the room and spots Mr and Mrs Woodsen slow dancing in the centre of the dance floor. 

‘You guys should dance while the bands still sober’ Clarke jokes

Lincoln takes Clarkes cue, he leads Octavia onto the dance floor. He places his hand on her lower back, drawing little circles, whilst Octavia rests her head upon her boyfriend’s shoulder. Clarke sighs and is about to walk to the open bar, when someone slides up next to her. 

‘Hi.’ His voice is gruffer and deeper, if it’s possible. 

‘Hello’

‘Nice wedding.’

‘Beautiful’ She remarks 

‘How’ve you been?’

‘Fine’

‘How’s everything, you seeing anybody?’

‘Bellamy!’ She gives him a withering glare

‘What?’

‘I don’t want to talk about this’

‘Okay. Is it because of what happened?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘Why can’t we get past this? I mean, are we gonna carry this thing around forever’

‘Forever!? It just happened’ 

‘It happened 4 weeks ago.’ He exclaims

Her frustration and anger at him is growing. She can see Octavia giving her a concerned look from the dance floor. She marches out of the room signalling for Bellamy to follow. They walk into the kitchen.

‘We agreed it was a mistake’ He remarks

‘The biggest mistake I’ve ever made’ 

‘Then what’s the issue, Princess?’ 

‘To you this is something that just happened and you think you can just ask me how I am, or who I’m seeing and magically were back to how we were before, like what happened didn’t mean anything’ 

‘I’m not saying it didn’t mean anything. I’m just saying why does it have to mean everything’ 

‘Because it does, because Bellamy, you.’ She jabs at his chest ‘You are my best friend, you were supposed to know me and care about me. I thought out of anyone you wouldn’t be the one running out of the door, treating me the way you treat the rest of your flings, by saying you have an early squash game. When I know that’s utter bullshit. You complain about Echo lying, you are no better.’

‘That’s low, Princess. You think you have me all worked out.’ He’s starting to shout at her now. ‘You expected me to fill the void in your life that Finn left. You expect me to know how to act around you in every situation, I can’t do that, princess. I can’t bend to your every wish and demand.’

‘I never wanted that from you, you don’t have to behave any way with me now. I don’t care what you do as long as it’s away from me!’

‘Fine, but let’s get one thing straight. I didn’t go over there that night to have sex with you. That’s not why I went there. But what was I supposed to do? You looked at me with those big sad eyes.’ 

‘What are you saying? You took pity on me? Fuck you.’

She hates him, she doesn’t know what overcomes her, she just sees red and slaps him. She marches off back to the reception, leaving Bellamy stunned. She walks out into the main dining room and catches Lincoln’s eye, she sees Murphy heading towards the microphone

‘I want to propose a toast to Bellamy and Clarke’

Bellamy has walked into the room by now, a red mark blooms on his face. His eyes are angry and his fists are clenched. Everyone in the room has turned to look at the both of them. She can feel Bellamy burning a hole into the back of her head. Murphy raises his glass and looks towards his wife.

‘To Bellamy and Clarke. If Raven or I had found either of them remotely attractive we would not be here today.’ 

Everyone starts laughing and raises their glasses to Bellamy and Clarke. Clarke grimaces and looks at the happy couple giving them a weak smile. 

—————————————————————————————————————

December 4th 2006

Clarke bustles through the door, shaking off the snow on her coat and hat. She drags the Christmas tree in with her. She shuts the door and moves the tree over to its designated corner. She bumps into that damn side-table, stubbing her toe. She remembers Bellamy’s constant irritation surrounding the table, if anything the memory brings her more pain. She throws her coat on the rack and collapses on the sofa. Her phone rings, she sees its Bellamy she ignores him. She goes to the kitchen and collects her leftover dinner. She picks up her phone and sees she’s been left a voicemail, she listens to it. 

‘Hi, it’s me. It’s the holiday season, the season of forgiveness and charity, so if you felt like calling me back, I would be okay with that —

She hears someone in the background mutter ‘I would be okay with that, what’s wrong with you Blake.’ She presumes its Murphy. The voicemail ends. She puts her phone in her pocket and leaves the apartment ready to see Harper, Monty, Jordan and baby Evie. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy rings her throughout the week, leaving voicemail after voicemail. When finally she decides enough is enough. When he rings her on Friday evening, she answers. 

‘Hi Bellamy’

‘Hey, hi. I didn’t think you would ever answer. Hi — what are you doing.’

‘I was just on my way out.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘What do you want, Bellamy?’

‘Nothing. I just called to say — what are you doing for New Year’s? Are you going to the Tyler’s party?’

She doesn’t respond

‘Do you have a date? Cause I don’t have a date and if you don’t have a date, we always said if neither of us had a date on New Year’s —

‘Bellamy, you need to stop. If you need forgiveness I’ll give that to you. You are forgiven. You and me it was a mistake, a massive mistake.’ She feels tears brewing in her eyes but pushes forward, because she needs to stop this from hurting so damn much. ‘I can’t keep being your consolation prize. I can’t be the person you turn to because you’re alone or feeling sad or bored. I know you’ll still be part of my life, but it can’t go back to how it was. I… I’m done.’ She exhales and feels her fingers shaking 

‘Wait Clarke’ 

‘Goodbye Bell’ She hangs up the phone and rushes of to work. 

—————————————————————————————————————

31st December 2006

Bellamy’s at home, watching utter crap on television. His mind drifts to a year ago today, when he was with Clarke at that New Year’s Party. He remembers them dancing and them walking out for some air.

‘Bell, do you think the fact that we’re friends is keeping us from finding someone?’

‘Yes. Let’s stop being friends, go home right now and make love.’

She laughs ‘Be serious’ 

He jumps off the sofa and walks towards the door, air. He needs some air.

—————————————————————————————————————

It’s New Year’s Eve and Clarke’s at the Tyler’s stupid party. Bellamy didn’t show, she’s been dancing with some guy Raven tried to set her up with. She’s tired, sad and a little bit heartbroken on New Year’s Eve and the only thing she want’s to do is go home. 

Cage, she thinks his name is Cage, spins her around the dance floor making her dizzy. She prays for the night to just end. She spots Octavia and Lincoln, Raven and Murphy and even Monty and Harper, who seem to have gotten away from the kids for the night. All in love and all happy. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy’s been walking for what feels like hours, he seems to recognise the area he’s in. Washington Square, the place Clarke dropped him off 11 years ago. He remembers them awkwardly shaking hands and he thinks of where they are now. He turns away from the square, he quickens his stride and then he breaks into a run.

————————————————————————————————————— 

She pulls away from Cage and makes her way over to Raven and Murphy

‘I’m going home’

‘It’s almost midnight.’

‘I can’t stand the thought of not having someone at midnight’

‘You have us’

‘You know that’s not what I mean, Murph. You know I love you guys and I would love to stay but I’m done.’

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy is sprinting down the street, he stops to hail a cab but none stop. He keeps running.

—————————————————————————————————————

Clarke hugs them all and says goodbye

‘Wait two minutes’ Octavia pleads with her

‘I love you, O. I’ll call you tomorrow.’

She makes her way to the exit of the room, pushing through the swarm of people until she stops dead in her tracks, she sees him. He’s panting and out of breath, he catches sight of her and walks towards her stopping in front of her.

‘I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And the thing is, I love you.’

‘What?’

‘I love you.’ 

‘How do you expect me to respond to this’ 

‘How about you love me, too?’

‘No, no. Bell I’m done.’ Her voices catches ‘I was done with all of this, I was done with you’ She points at him

‘Doesn’t what I said mean anything to you?’

Around them the countdown commences ’10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Happy New Year!’ Everyone starts kissing, confetti flies around, with everyone breaking into Auld Lang Syne.

‘What is it supposed to mean? I’m sorry, Bell. I know it’s New Year’s Eve and I know you’re feeling lonely, but you can’t just show up here and tell me you love me and expect that to make it all right. I mean, what am I supposed to say? It doesn’t work this way.’

‘Well, how does it work?’

‘I don’t know, but not this way.’

‘How about this way. I love the way you get cold when its 62 degrees out. I love the way your mouth turns down just a little bit, right there. I love how it take you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love when you steal my sweaters, thinking I don’t notice. I love that when I take them back I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. I love how you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night and the first person I want to talk to when I wake up. I came here tonight because when your realise you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.’ 

‘See, that’s just like you, Bellamy. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you — And I hate you. I hate you, Bellamy, I hate you.’

He grabs her arm and pulls her in, he kisses her. A long kiss and Auld Lang Syne plays in the background. 

‘My whole life I have never known what this song means’ 

‘I know exactly what you mean.’ 

‘Should old acquaintance be forgot. Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we do happen to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we forgot them —

‘Maybe you’re just supposed to remember you forgot them, anyway, it’s about old friends.’

‘Which we are?’ He smirks

She kisses him to shut him up 

—————————————————————————————————————

Bellamy relaxes on the loveseat, with Clarke leaning into his side

‘How did we meet? She asks and the man in front of her nods. 'The first time we met we hated each other.'

‘You didn’t hate me. I hated you.’

‘The second time we met he didn’t even remember me’

‘I did too, I remembered you.’ He exclaims

‘The third time we met we became friends’

‘We were friends for a long time’ 

‘And then we weren’t’

‘And then we fell in love’ 

‘Two months later we got married’

‘It was a beautiful wedding’ 

‘We had this incredible coconut cake’

‘With a very rich chocolate sauce on the side’

‘Yeah, you know, because everybody doesn’t like sauce right one top of their cake’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading !!!! 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed it 💛💛💛


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